Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Eagle Elite Invitational
Track and Field Completes Successful Weekend in Boston
February 15, 2025 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
BOSTON, Mass. — Army West Point Track and Field took part in the Eagle Elite Invitational and the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
At the Eagle Elite Invitational, the Black Knights saw several strong results, including three top finishes on the men's side.
Robby Manse swept the throwing events for the second straight meet that he participated in. The reigning Patriot League Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Week threw 16.87m in the shot put and 19.46m in the weight throw.
Alongside Manse's first-place finishes, the Black Knights swept the podium in the men's throwing events. Luke Noonan and Matt Palchak earned second and third in the shot put with throws at 15.83m and 15.41m respectively. Jonathan Segujja and Jake Nwosu finished second and third in the weight throw with 18.42m and 17.45m marks.
Bret Wingward saw his first collegiate win in his career in the triple jump. Wingward finished with a personal best 15.02m jump, also moving him to seventh place overall on Army's program record list. James Beckett saw a second-place finish with a 14.66m mark.
In other field events, Brian McSweeney earned a third-place finish in the pole vault and Carlos Posey earned third in the long jump.
On the running side, Jaxon Hammond led the way for the Black Knights, finishing fourth in the 60m dash and eighth in the 200m dash.
On the women's side for the Eagle Elite Invitational, the meet was highlighted by Mikayla Cheney setting a new program record.
Mikayla Cheney finished the mile run with a 4:41.03, cutting three seconds off the previous program record that she set at the Star Meet two weeks ago. Se earned 12th place in the event with that time, and she also earned 12th in the 1500m run.
At the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, the men's side was highlighted by a No. 21 finish in the 800m run by Kasen Jeitz, finishing the race with a 1:49.32 final time, four seconds behind first place.
On the women's side, the Black Knights sent a smaller crew, with two athletes setting personal bests and moving up the standing in the program record list.
Skye Chambers set a new personal best in the women's 800m. Chambers finished the race with a time of 2:10.39, a time that moved her to third all-time the Army all-time list. Chambers also ran on the 4x400 relay and ran a season-best 3:46.95 now sits as the fifth-best all-time performance.
Mia Royall won her heat of the 1000 meters with a 2:53.30 final time. The finish moved her to number seven on the all-time program record list.
Up next, the Black Knights return to Gillis Field House on January 22 for the West Point Tune Up, the final meet before the Patriot League Indoor Championships on March 1-2. The meet is scheduled for a 10 a.m. start on Saturday.
Hear From Coach Smith:
A lot of positives from day one in Boston. The majority of our team competed at the Track at New Balance at the Boston College Eagle Elite Invitational. Our field event athletes collected the wins. Robbie Manse ('26) had a double win in the shot put and weight throw. He continues to improve and has shown a great deal of consistency. His leadership in the ring has also extended well beyond the ring. He has set a great example at practice with his work ethic and his motivation. He has elevated the expectations of our entire program. In the horizontal jumps, we had some good results. The highlight was the first collegiate win for Bret Wingard ('27) in the triple jump. Bret had the best series of his life in winning the event. His best leap of 15.02m moved him to a tie for No. 7 on the Army all-time top 10 list and was the first 15-meter jump for an Army man since 2008. He has made significant gains from a year ago and has looked great in practice in recent weeks so what we saw today was not a surprise. He is also now tied for the conference lead in the triple jump. We didn't win any events on the women's side but we did have a new school record in the women's mile. Two weeks ago Mikayla Cheney broke her own school record at the Star Meet and today she cut another three seconds off that record with her time of 4:41.03. It is the third time in her young career that she has set the mile record. The race was a little crowded early and I think that threw her off a little bit. Once she was able to get free and connect to the lead pack she started rolling. She is almost always a threat to win a race and today she put herself up with the leaders with two laps to go and just came up a little short with a fourth-place finish. She still has a lot of room to improve, and I know she has her sights set on getting under 4:40 this indoor season.
Saturday at the Valentine invite was a women's only meet and we put a skeleton crew on the track at the Boston University Track. The level of competition on Saturday was the best we have seen all season. Friday there was a world record in the men's 5000. The energy was pretty high in the facility during that race and certainly afterward. That energy carried over into today. We came to the meet to run fast. Skye Chambers ('27) got us started with a new personal best in the women's 800m. Her time of 2:10.39 moved her to No. 3 on the Army all-time list. She also ran on our 4x400 relay and ran a season-best 3:46.95 that now sits as the fifth-best all-time performance. Mia Royall ('28) won her heat of the 1000 meters in 2:53.30 which moved her to number seven on the all-time list. She has steadily improved since coming back from the holiday break and is starting to match the form she had last spring when she was setting records in South Carolina. We were tested in every event here this weekend and I think we handled the competitive level quite well. We are in a good spot with both the men and the women as we look ahead to the conference championship in a couple of weeks.
Players Mentioned
