Follow @HBUTrack
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - At the KMS Indoor Invitational on Sunday at the Birmingham Crossplex, seven HBU track and field athletes took the stage to compete with junior
Christopher Welch winning the triple jump and
Kaitlin Smith taking a close second in the women's high jump.
In the 60m hurdles, junior
Scott Boon set a new PR in the preliminaries with a time of 8.64 while senior
Denim Rogers earned a time of 8.14 and
Garrett Gibson posted the fastest time among all competitors, crossing in 8.04, to qualify for the finals along with Rogers. In the finals, Gibson set a new PR of 8.00 and finished two-hundredths of a second behind the winner to take second with Rogers placing fifth with a time of 8.09. In the women's 60m hurdles, Smith earned fourth place in the finals with a time of 9.03 after qualifying with a mark of 8.95 in the prelims. Gibson also posted a PR of 22.05 in the 200m dash to take eighth place.
Running 60m without the hurdles, the Huskies competed aptly with Rogers, Boon and
Jorg Vanlierde participating in the men's 60m dash. Vanlierde posted a time of 7.29 while Rogers and Boon advanced to the semis with marks of 7.09 and 7.24, respectively. In the semis, Boon improved on his time with a mark of 7.22.
Junior
Jessica Rabius picked up a fourth-place finish in the mile run with a time of 5:22.78 while in the 800m she placed fifth with a time of 2:19.19.
The Huskies showed well in field events, as well, with Smith placing second in the high jump with a height of 1.65m/5-5, clearing on her third attempt while first cleared on try number two, and third in the long jump with a top mark of 5.55m/18-2.5. In men's jumps,
Christopher Welch took first in the triple jump with a top leap of 15.29m/50-2.0, nearly three feet better than the second place competitor. Rogers cleared 1.95m/6-4.75 in the high jump to place fifth while also posting a mark of 6.56m/21-6.25 in the long jump. Boon finished fifth in the long jump with a best leap of 6.75m/22-1.75. Vanlierde, meanwhile, placed eighth in the high jump with a jump of 1.85m/6-0.75 and reached 6.30m/20-8 in the long jump.
HBU will have four athletes competing this coming Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30, at the Texas Tech Invitational & Multis in Lubbock, Texas.
