Track & Field Makes it Mark at Nittany Lion Challenge

Saturday, January 18

University Park, PA

Army West Point

Nittany Lion Challenge

Track & Field Makes it Mark at Nittany Lion Challenge

January 19, 2025 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Army West Point track & field competed at its first road meet of the 2025 indoor season at the Nittany Lion Challenge, hosted by Penn State University on Saturday.

FULL RESULTS

The Army women were towards the top of the leaderboards early and often, with Ever Elegon and Charlotte Richman each winning an event for the Black Knights.

Elegon bested the field in the 400m with a 56.05s run as the senior begins her indoor campaign in good form.

Army's distance runners continued to shine coming off their cross-country championship run, as Charlotte Richman (4:50.84) and Mikayla Cheney (4:51.23) were in lockstep to place first and second in the mile.

Kalliauna Powers tabbed a runner-up finish in the long jump, posting a 5.70m mark. On the men's side, Carlos Posey also logged second place in the event with his 7.12m showing.

James Beckett (14.76m) and Bret Wingard (14.47m) landed in second and third-place in the triple jump, as the Black Knights continued to post names towards the top of the leaderboards. The triple jump also saw Erin Allert make her mark at the meet, tabbing fourth-place overall with an 11.25m mark.

Kasen Jeitz came out strong with a second-place finish in the 600m as the junior tabbed a time of 1:18.98. The 600m on the women's side saw Skye Chambers (1:33.45) and Hannah Andrews (1:34.54) earn top-four finishes as Chambers landed behind a pair of Maryland runners for a third-place finish.

Robby Manse continued his strong start to the season for the men with a second-place finish in the weight throw (19.28m) and a 17.11m shot put which landed him third among collegiate competitors.

Sophia Dykstra led the women with a tied for third-place weight throwing showing (17.66m) while also recording a tenth-place finish in the shot put with a 12.70m throw on her third attempt.

The Black Knights also sent a handful of athletes to the Quaker Invitational at the University of Pennsylvania, highlighted by Canyon Hall's fourth-place finish in the heptathlon with a score of 5049. Zoe Eggleston landed sixth on the women's side with a 3382. Brian McSweeney also had a 5.00m pole vault which landed him in the top-five in the event.

Army will return on Jan. 24-25 as it sends athletes to the Dr. Sander Invitational, hosted by Columbia University, in the final tune-up before the indoor Star Meet with Navy.

Hear from Coach Smith:

We had the majority of our team competing this weekend split between the Nittany Lion Challenge at Penn State and the Quaker Invite at the University of Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, we sent some of our vertical jump and multi event competitors. Canyon Hall ('26) finished 4^th in his first heptathlon of the season. His point total of 5049 moves him up to #2 All-time at Army. Canyon has steadily improved in his 3 years at the Academy and he is one of our most dependable athletes. He doesn't get too high or too low and manages the transitions from event to event very well. He is like that at practice and in life. He just takes care of business. I expect that he will approach our school record of 5198 points by the end of the season. We had the majority of our team at Penn State and we were able to put people into almost every event. I like the quality of this meet as well as the variety of events and competitive depth. We managed to win two events (both on the women's side) and we had quite a few runner-up performances and strong marks that will end up high on the Patriot League ranking list. In the throws, Robby Manse ('26) led the way for us with his 2^nd place finish in the weight throw. His best mark came on his 5^th throw of the competition. The mark of 19.28m just missed making our top 10 list and will certainly put him high on the Patriot League list. But what impressed me the most about his series today, was his final throw. On his 6^th and final attempt he threw 19.03 meters. Two 19 meter throws tells me that he has reached a new level. Prior to today, he was an 18 meter weight thrower. Now he is certainly a 19 meter man. Robby has taken on the responsibility to carry the throws group forward and today was another example of how valuable he is to our team. Last week he moved up the list in the shot put and this week he had a significant personal best in the weight. He is one of our most versatile athletes with competitive range in the hammer, the weight, the shot and the discus. I think he will continue to climb the patriot league lists throughout the season. Our other runner-up finishes came in the horizontal jumps. Kaulianna Powers ('25) took 2^nd place in the long jump and nearly eclipsed her all-time best mark of 5.79m (19 feet) set last year. She had the best series of her life today with several jumps over 18 feet. Her best mark of 18' 8.5" came on her first jump and had that been the end of her day it would have been a good meet for her, but she jumped 5 more times and went over 18 feet on 3 additional jumps. It was a very consistent series. In the men's triple jump, it was one of our plebes that earned the runner-up spot. James Beckett '28 put a great series together today and while he is still outside our top 10 all-time list, it is unusual for a plebe to eclipse his high school marks so early in his career. We knew he was talented when he committed to us a year ago, but his success has been possibly more rapid than we would have expected. He is just getting started. In the long jump it was CJ Posey '26 earning the runner-up spot. CJ is a very talented long jumper. His dad was a sprinter at Mizzou when I was coaching at Kansas State University in the early 2000's and according to CJ his dad still owns the personal best marks in the family in the sprints. But it is CJ that has the best marks in the long jump. Today's result of 7.12 meters was some distance short of his personal best, but it was a very strong opening series for him and bodes well for what he could achieve this winter and spring. He is in the best shape of his life and as he develops consistency, he will be a major factor in the championship meets that we have on the schedule. We entered Kasen Jeitz in the 600 meter race today to give him a good test as he prepares for the 800 meter race in the future. He ended up in a slow race and with a lap to go it appeared that he would win his heat easily but not run a very fast time. He won the race going away and was never really challenged. His time of 1:18 ended up being the 2^nd best performance in the event as another athlete in a different heat ran faster. Kasen is in great physical condition right now and will be tough to beat this winter. He has a great set of tools and is a great competitor. We saw that today as he ran with great command in the 600. The two events we won today were on the women's side. Charlotte Richman ('26) got her season started with a big personal best in the women's mile of 4:50.84. She and Mikayla Cheney ('27) controlled the race from the front and Charlotte outleaned Mikayla at the line to get the win. Charlotte is coming off the best cross country season of her life and I think we can expect to see some significant improvement in her results across multiple events on the track this winter and spring. Our other win today came from Ever Elegon ('25) in the women's 400m. Ever set a new personal best of 56.05 in winning the event and climbed to number 7 all-time on the Army lists. She backed up that winning performance with a strong leg on the 4x400m relay. She had a great day and showed tremendous command in both of her races. She has always been a great competitor for us and I think that we are just scratching the surface of her potential.