Cale Kassen highlighted the Lee University track & field teams’ competition at the South Carolina Garnet Invitational on Friday with two of the Flames’ three new NCAA Division II Provisional Qualification marks. The Lady Flames combined for five top-10 finishes.
Kassen was the event winner in both the 60-meter hurdles and the high jump. In the 60, he posted a time of 7.93 seconds to hold the top time in the preliminary round. Kassen improved his time in the final to win with a stoppage of 7.85 seconds to beat the provisional standard of 8.20 seconds.
In the high jump, Kassen cleared 2.05 meters to bypass the provisional mark of 2.03 meters. He currently stands at No. 3 in Division II in the hurdles and 26th in the high jump. Kassen also finished second in the long jump with a measurement of 7.04 meters.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Nokia Masengu, Doniven Jackson, Niquaine Henry and Justin Steele added another event win with a combined time of 3:13.25. The foursome were three seconds below the provisional of 3:16.48 and now stand at No. 8 among DII competitors.
Masengu (48.74) and Henry (49.23) were second and fifth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash. Jackson placed third in the 60-meter dash after recording a time of 6.92 seconds in the final. He posted the same time in the preliminaries where Aiden Shaw finished 17th (7.18).
Four Flames finished in the top-10 of the 200-meter dash. Steele was second (21.72) and Jackson finished third (21.75). Masengu placed sixth at 21.96 and Shaw crossed the finish line in 10th (22.19).
Camden Williams won the shot put with a mark of 15.11 meters. He added a fourth-place finish with a weight throw of 15.08 meters.
Hannah Wright recorded a first-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.95 seconds. She advanced out of the preliminaries with a second-place time of 9.00 seconds. Liezl Theron was eighth (9.23) in the preliminary round.
Theron finished third in the high jump after clearing 1.66 meters. Hall was fourth and Theron placed sixth in the long jump. Hall covered 5.55 meters, while Theron was marked at 5.48 meters.
Janay Ryan placed 19th in the 60-meter dash after crossing the finish line in 8.03 seconds. Ryan joined Wright and Jakara Tobler in the 200-meter dash. Wright was Lee’s top finisher at 25.74 seconds (11th), while Ryan was right behind with a time of 25.76 (12th). Tobler stopped the clock at 26.75 to finish 25th.
Tobler added a 12th-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.40. Hall’s time of 1:00.59 put her in 14th.
The Flames and Lady Flames will send a group to Birmingham, Ala., for the USA Jaguar Invitational hosted by the University of South Alabama at the Birmingham CrossPlex.