The Kent State Track and Field team headed to Ypsilanti, Mich., over the weekend to compete at the 2025 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Conference Championships. Conference play was split across Friday and Saturday.
Friday
The men’s team opened with a bang on Friday behind a first-place finish in the men’s shot put off the hand of redshirt junior Donovan Crawford. Crawford unleashed a mark of 63’-6” that was above all MAC men’s marks.
In the highest scoring event of the day for the Flashes, Amare Hall and Alexandre Malanda combined for a staggering 15 points in the men’s long jump. Hall jumped for a mark of 23’-8.75”, which was good enough for second place – Malanda placed just one pillar below with a mark of 23’-7.25”.
The men’s team concluded action on Friday with a third-place finish in the distance medley relay where Dylan McBride, Beau Harkelroad, Caleb Bost and Isaac Perez placed third with a mark of 10:13:27.
On the women’s end, sophomore pentathlete Shelby Grover placed second in the 10-sport event. Grover scored nearly 3,800 points and set a new personal record in the shot put with a mark of 41’-8.75”.
In the weight throw, sophomore Kennedy Landrus placed fifth with a mark of 57’-7” with junior Noel Frye taking eighth with a mark of 56’-2”.
In a breakout season, sophomore Keeli Dunaway posted a PR with a mark of 18’-11.75” in the long jump.
At the end of the competition on Friday, the men’s team sat at second in the Conference Championship standings with the women’s team coming in at fifth.
Saturday
In a season chock-full of historic performances, Malanda performed once again this season. Malanda posted a winning mark of 52’4.75” in the triple jump, giving the win to the Flashes.
In another jumping event victory for the Flashes, senior Liam Vinskovich repeated as high jump champion with a mark of 6’-9.75”.
In the 60-meter dash, two Flashes made up the top spots on the leaderboard, Jaheim Jones and Sean Callahan.
In the heptathlon, freshman Joel Enander claimed gold with nearly 5,500 points scored. This capped off a very solid season for Enander in which he claimed MAC Freshman Field Performer of the Year.
Kristian Kneffler finished second in the men’s pole vault with a mark of 16’-5.25” in another top-three performance for a Flash.
Senior Zamen Siyoum took second place in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.18 seconds.
Another male thrower finished strong on Saturday, this time it was sophomore Charles Pawlosky, who placed third with a mark of 56 even.
And finally, the men’s 4×400-meter relay team finished third with a mark of 3:22.35.
The women’s team opened on a bang, as senior Aliesha Shaw took first place in the women’s shot put with a mark of 51’-2.75”, an indoor PR for Shaw.
Amryne Chilton continued her strong season finishing second in the women’s 200m with a time of 24.15 seconds.
Redshirt junior Gabrielle Hammonds set a PR and took fifth in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.60 seconds. This mark is tied for the sixth fastest in school history.
The men’s team finished at second place with the women tied for fourth.
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected] or @GageWellmanKSTV on X.