FLORENCE, S.C. — The Columbia International University men's track & field team competed Friday at the Francis Marion Invitational, continuing its outdoor season with a strong showing across multiple events.
DeVarius Ponds led the Rams in the sprints, qualifying for the finals in the 100 meters with a personal-best time of 11.24 before finishing seventh overall in 11.20.
James Mayo paced CIU in the 200 meters with a 10th-place finish in 22.38, while Mark Zagata followed with a personal-best time of 22.78 and Hunter McCaskill posted a time of 22.93.
Zagata also led the Rams in the 400 meters with a personal-best time of 50.73, followed by Denim Jones at 52.14.
In the hurdles, Zyon Black recorded a personal-best time of 1:03.56 to finish third in the 400-meter hurdles.
The middle-distance group was led by Spencer Evans, who placed second in the 800 meters with a personal-best time of 2:01.73. Julian Carranza followed with a fifth-place finish at 2:08.01, while Joey Canning added a time of 2:12.04.
In the 1500 meters, Jacobo Garcia-Rivera finished third in 4:26.54, while Canning placed fourth at 4:29.59.
In the field events, Cameron Montgomery delivered a dominant performance, winning the hammer throw with a mark of 52.20 meters and also winning the shot put at 16.20 meters. Dante Shuler added a second-place finish in the hammer at 49.99 meters and placed fifth in the shot put with a throw of 11.77 meters, while Caius Johns recorded marks of 33.21 meters in the hammer and 11.54 meters in the shot put.
In the discus, Caius Johns placed fifth with a throw of 36.11 meters, followed by Shuler at 34.65 meters.
Dallas Turner cleared 1.93 meters to finish third in the high jump.
In the javelin, Jeremy Daniels recorded a sixth-place throw of 45.93 meters.
Nicolás Ortiz led the Rams in the pole vault with a sixth-place finish and a personal-best clearance of 4.05 meters, while Hunter McCaskill added a mark of 3.90 meters.
Elijah Seawright recorded a third-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 13.67 meters.
CIU also competed in the 4x400 relay, finishing second (Latimer, Zagata, Jones, Mayo) with a time of 3:28.07.
The Rams will next compete at the AAC Outdoor Championships, scheduled for April 23–25.
