Redhawks Split This Weekend at the Billy Hayes Invite and Sycamore Open

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri track & field will be split this weekend between the Billy Hayes Invite in Bloomington, Ind. and the Sycamore Open in Terre Haute, Ind., Friday May 9th.

The athletes competing at the Billy Hayes Invite will be Clara Billing, Brianna Dixon, Madelyn Gray, Tyler Anderson, Colin Beers, Luke Busateri, Sullivan Gleason, Luke Hatfield Jackson, Kenyon Johnson, Cole Reinders, and Justin Splitt. The field events begin at noon with the women’s hammer and the track events begin at 4:00 p.m. with the 110m hurdles.

The throwers attending the Sycamore Open are Paden Lewis, Jehchys Brown, Clay Alewelt, Josiah Kilgore, Ava Dumke, Kennedy Zgaynor, Andreese Ortiz, and Makenzie Williams. The field events are scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. with the women’s javelin. 

Where We Rank

For each individual event the top 48 performances will be accepted into the NCAA regional which is broken up into East and West. For each relay event, the top 24 relay teams will be accepted into the competition. The top 24 performances in the combined events (Heptathlon and Decathlon) are accepted directly into the Championships. 

The sport is broken up into nine regions, SEMO is in the Midwest Region which includes all the Division One schools from Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois.

Southeast has four marks ranked in the top 50 of the country,  marks ranked in the top 26 in the midwest, 15 marks ranked first in the OVC, and 49 performances in the top five in the Ohio Valley Conference.

In the high jump, Luke Hatfield Jackson is ranked 15th in the NCAA, third in the Midwest and first in the OVC, achieving a mark of 7′ 1.75″ at the Clark Wood Open. In the long jump, Hatfield Jackson ranks 10th in the region and first in the OVC with a distance of 24′ 7.25″.

Paden Lewis ranks 50th in the nation, 11th in the region, and first in the conference in the hammer throw with a distance of 212′ 1″ with the mark being achieved at the Pacesetter Sports Invitational. Lewis also ranks 13th in the region and first in the OVC in shot put with a mark of 60′ 3.75″. Lewis ranks 16th in the region and first in the conference in discus throwing a distance of 182′ 5″.

Anna Thomason ranks 34th in the nation, seventh in the region, and first in the OVC in the heptathlon, getting 5260 points at the Gibson Invitational. Thomason also ranks sixth in the Midwest and first in the Ohio Valley Conference in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.54. 

Brianna Dixon ranks 24th in the NCAA, ninth in the region, and first in the conference in the high jump, achieving a height of 5′ 10.75″ at the Memphis Tiger Invitational. She also ranks 19th in the Midwest in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.82. 

In the 400m, Sydney Burdine ran a 54.02 to be ranked 12th in the Midwest.

In the 10,000m, Noah Little ranks first in the OVC with a time of 30:27.11.

With a distance of 49′ 7.75″ Kenyon Johnson ranks 13th in the region, Luke Busateri ranks 16th (49′ 1.75″), and Aarion Jackson ranks 24th (47′ 9″)  in triple jump.

In the 400m hurdles Laila Hardin ran a 59.41 time to be ranked 12th in the Midwest and first in the OVC.

The mens and womens 4x100m teams rank 23rd (42.27) and 13th (45.85, 1st OVC) in the region. The men’s team consists of Moore, Bruenderman, Jackson, and Revels. The women’s team is run by Thomason, Burdine, Dwaah, and Lester.

The men’s 4x400m relay team of Primeau, Fuller, Splitt, and Mygatt combined for a time of 3:18.77, ranking 21st in the region. The women’s squad of Hardin, Dwaah, Burdine, and Lester crossed the line at 3:46.01 to be ranked 21st in the Midwest Region.

Collin Beers cleared a height of 16′ 6″ in pole vault, earning 22nd in the regional rankings and Sullivan Gleason vaulted over a height of 16′ 7.25″ for 20th in the region.

15th in the region and first place in the OVC women’s pole vault rankings is held by Clara Billing, who cleared a height of 13′ 8.5″.

In the hammer throw Makenzie Williams threw for a distance of 189′ 5″ to take 21st in the region and first place in the Ohio Valley Conference rankings. Williams also ranks 19th in the region in discus with a distance of 160′ 11″.

Andreese Ortiz ranks 18th in the region in discus, throwing a distance of 161′ 5″

Josiah Kilgore ranks 15th in the region and first in the conference in javelin throwing for a distance of 197′ 2″.

Throwing for a distance of 144′ 0″, Kennedy Zgaynor ranks 24th in the Midwest and first in the conference in javelin.

Team Rankings

The Southeast Missouri men’s track and field team is ranked 152nd in the nation with 1.50 points coming from Luke Hatfield Jackson’s high jump (7′ 0.5″) and Paden Lewis’ hammer throw mark of 212′ 1″ and shot put of 60′ 1″.

The Southeast Missouri women’s track and field team is ranked 157th in the nation with 0.70 points coming from Anna Thomason’s 5260 points in heptathlon. 

The men’s team is ranked 18th in the Midwest Region with 103.09 total points and first in the conference with 1,115.14 points, ahead of Little Rock with 1,114.89 points.

The men’s squad teams that are ranked in the top 50 in the nation are the discus team (39th), high jump (33rd), long jump team (35th), and the shot put team (33rd).

The women’s team is ranked 20th in the Midwest Region with 91.76 total points and first in the OVC with 1,081.54 points, ahead of Little Rock in second with 934.87 points.

The women’s squad teams that are ranked in the top 50 in the nation are the hammer throw team (24th), the javelin team (38th), and the shot put team (44th). 

Weekly Awards

Paden Lewis claimed his second OVC Outdoor Male athlete of the week this week. Lewis notched two first place finishes in the Shot Put and Discus. In the shot put Lewis threw to the distance of 60′ 3.50″and in the discus throw had a mark of 182′ 5.00″. Lewis currently ranks 54th in the nation in the shot put, first in the OVC, and third overall in the SEMO record books. His Discus throw this past weekend earned him a new personal best that pushed him to 73rd in the NCAA, 1st in the OVC, and 3rd in the SEMO records.

Brianna Dixon won the OVC female field athlete of the week, her first OVC outdoor award of the season. This past weekend Dixon continued to rewrite the SEMO record books and broke her own high jump record with a jump of 5′ 10.75″. That jump puts her at 25th in the NCAA and first in the OVC.

Andreese Ortiz records her first career OVC Outdoor of the week award winning Female Freshman of the week. Ortiz posted a fourth place finish in the shot put 42′ 1.00″ and 11th in the discus 140′ 9″. Her discus throw was a new personal best and she now ranks second in the OVC. 

Looking Ahead

After this weekend track & field hosts the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships at the Abe Stuber Track Complex.