Men's Track & Field | April 29, 2025
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Clayton State University track & field teams competed in the 2025 Peach Belt Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the campus of Embry-Riddle on Monday and Tuesday. The women finished fourth while the men finished in sixth. Embry-Riddle won both the men's and women's crowns. The Lakers brought home many individual championships, and a bunch of school records fell in this two-day meet.
MONDAY ACTION
The Lakers kicked off action in the Championships on Monday in the decathlon as
Terry Mitchner and
Desmond Major represented the blue and orange. Mitchner and Major are fifth and sixth, respectively after five events. Mitchner earned the victory in the high jump with a final mark of 1.75m.
The Lakers saw a lot of good results in the prelims as
Davonte Jackson,
Kelvin Oppong, and
Titus Hand qualified for finals on Tuesday on the men's side. On the women's team,
Ziona Harris,
Marley Tate,
Rebecca Oji,
Cayla Brown,
Destiny Hanna,
Payton Knowles, and
Ivorie Smith all qualified for finals on Tuesday. Brown ran the fastest 200m prelim time while Smith clocked the fastest 400m hurdle prelim time.
In the field,
Davonte Jackson earned all-conference honors, in the long jump, placing third with a final distance of 7.05m. With that mark, Jackson tied the school record and became the second Laker in program history to jump more than seven meters.
Freddie Hawkins then earned the high jump conference crown with a final height of 1.95m. Hawkins earned his second high jump title in his career.
Christian Wiltshire finished fourth in the event with a height of 1.90m.
TUESDAY ACTION
Action on the track began in the 4x100m relay as the team of Brown, Hanna, Knowles, and Harris won the conference crown with a final time of 47.02. That time is good for a new school record as well. The team of
Dominic Archer, Oppong, Hand, and
Kalani Wyman finished fifth with a final time of 42.69. In the 110m hurdles, Jackson earned a fourth place finish with a time of 15.04. The women's 400m dash took three of the top eight spots as Tate took second with a time of 57.76, Harris took third with a time of 58.35 and Oji placed sixth clocking a time of 60.08. All hit new PRs for the season. Tate and Harris earned all-conference honors in the race. In the men's race, Hand finished in sixth with a time of 50.60.
In the 100m dash, Brown finished as the conference's runner up sprinting to a time of 12.08 while Knowles clocked a time of 12.26, finishing in seventh. Both ladies hit new PRs and Brown's time is good for second all-time while Payton's time is tied for fourth best. Oppong finished eighth on the men's side with a time of 10.80, which is good for a PR and tied for sixth best in program history. In the 800m run,
Ahlana Failey finished seventh with a time of 2:18.35, which is good for a new PR and seventh in program history. In the men's race,
Camron Gaddis clocked the sixth fastest time running the race in 1:53.35, which is good for a new PR and fifth best in program history.
In the 400m hurdles, Smith won the conference crown with a time of 63.73. That time is good for third best in program history. Jackson placed third in the men's race with a time of 54.65. Both Jackson and Smith gathered all-conference honors in the race. In the men's decathlon, Major finished fourth with a total score of 4343, which also broke the school record that was set by Darryl Jefferson in 2022. Mitchner finished seventh with a final score of 3928. Notably, Major finished second in the javelin throw & 110m hurdles while placing third in the shot put, high jump, and 400m dash. In the 200m dash, Brown and Knowles gathered top four finishes. Cayla finished second with a time of 24.34 while Payton finished fourth sprinting to a time of 24.97. Brown is now second all-time in the race and Knowles is fourth all-time in program history. Hand clocked the seventh fastest time in the men's race with a time of 22.07.
The meet concluded in the 4x400m relay. The women's team of Harris, Tate, Smith, and Oji took home the conference crown and recorded a new school record with a time of 3:55.16. The men's team of Hand,
Nehemiah Horton,
Rohan Holness, and
Rakiem Barnes finished with a time of 3:22.40.
In the field, Jackson placed fourth in the men's triple jump with a final mark of 13.90m. In the shot put, in her season debut, Ky'Leo Worriels finished third with a final mark of 11.08, which is also good for sixth in program history. Worriels earned all-conference honors in the event.
It is worth noting that
Payton Knowles was one of only eight PBC women's track athletes that earned the Elite 18 Award which is given to the athlete with the highest GPA.
Below are all the top eight finishers for the Lakers in the championships
*All-Conference Selection
** Conference Champion
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Lakers will send a select few to the Lee University Last Chance Meet on Saturday, May 10
th at 8 a.m. Please visit claytonstatesports.com for more information.
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