When Emporia State sophomore Josh Honeycutt broke his own school record in the preliminaries on Saturday at the ESU Relays, he knew it was going to be a special day.
“It takes me awhile to get going,” he said. “So when I started off good, I knew by the end of it I’d be doing really good.”
Honeycutt progressively jumped farther and farther on Saturday, bettering his school record on all four of his legal jumps. On his final jump, Honeycutt went 53 feet, 9.25 inches (16.39 meters). His jump is the best mark in the nation collegiately at any level this year and the 14th-best mark in the world this season.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen anybody jump like that before,” said teammate Doug Marshall, who finished second to Honeycutt. “Just to be his teammate, I feel like I jumped it, I’m so happy for him. This is amazing.”
Honeycutt, who also won the long jump, was one of six Hornets to win individual titles on Saturday. Alex Pyle won the long jump, Vincent Howze won the 400-meter hurdles and Josh Schuler won the 200 meters for the ESU men. For the ESU women, Katie Mona won the 1,500 meters and Ranae Weaver won the long jump.
Honeycutt, who won the Division II indoor title this year, said Saturday was the best he’s ever jumped in his life. He even surprised himself, because he and Marshall are currently in training mode.
But from the start when Honeycutt stepped to the line and his teammates and the other triple jumpers started clapping in rhythm, he sensed it would be a special day.
“I was more nervous and more excited about this than I was at Nationals,” he said. “It’s kind of weird, but it’s just having the home crowd behind you. We don’t have indoor here, so people can’t come to see you compete. I had my family there in Houston, but to have everybody here, all my teammates watching, it gets emotions going, adrenaline going and I like it a lot better.”
After Honeycutt jumped 15.55 meters in his first jump of the finals, Marshall jokingly asked, “Trying to go 16?”
By Honeycutt’s final jump, everyone in attendance had joined in on the clapping as he stood at the line, and after surpassing the 16-meter mark, he jumped up and knew immediately he had his best mark ever.
“I knew he was going to break the record,” Marshall said. “But I didn’t sense 53.”
Honeycutt said his next goal is 55 feet, and his first chance will be back at home this week at the D-II Challenge.
On the women’s side, Mona had a memorable first outdoor meet of her collegiate career. The freshman added an 800-meter runner-up finish to her 1,500-meter title.
In the 1,500 meters, Mona led from start to finish, beating teammate Kathryn Davison by nearly eight seconds.
“I was planning on drafting off someone, but the person that was first was actually a rabbit, and I was already out, so I kept going,” Mona said.
Davison was one of seven runner-up finishers for the ESU women. Connie Phillips finished second in the javelin and her throw of 140 feet, 11 inches is the eighth-best in Division II this season.
Brooke Kent finished second in two events. She finished behind Weaver in the long jump and also finished second in the 100 meters.
Kent had a stomach bug last week and missed several practices leading up to the meet.
“It’s a good first meet, considering I’ve been sick,” she said. “I expect to do some stuff next week.”
The ESU Multis begin on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Saturday at Welch Stadium
Women
100-meter dash
2. w-Kent 12.43
4. w-Weaver 12.78
200-meter dash
2. Sill 25.64
7. Wakefield-Hall 26.97
11. Nichols 27.26
400-meter dash
2. Sill 59.12
5. Baum 1:00.14
7. Hughes-Stanton 1:00.83
11. Wakefield-Hall 1:01.62
800 meters
2. Mona 2:21.30
7. Bookout 2:27.40
8. Weller 2:28.60
1,500 meters
1. Mona 4:52.68
2. Davison 5:00.08
5,000 meters
3. Frehe 20:31.01
100-meter hurdles
5. Davenport 15.55
400-meter hurdles
5. Spencer 1:11.30
4 by 100-meter relay
3. Emporia State 49.81
4 by 400-meter relay
3. Emporia State 4:07.48
4 by 800-meter relay
2. Emporia State 10:28.20
High jump
7. Goff 1.50 meters
Long jump
1. w-Weaver 5.43 meters
2. Kent 5.39 meters
3. Davenport 5.26 meters
6. Lippert 5.01 meters
Triple jump
5. Lippert 10.45 meters
Shot put
3. Pannbacker 11.85 meters
4. Watkins 11.19 meters
6. Jackson 10.80 meters
Discus throw
2. Pannbacker 41.76 meters
3. Jackson 40.53 meters
Javelin throw
2. *Philips 42.70 meters
8. Watkins 33.32 meters
Hammer throw
3. Jackson 46.60 meters
12. Watkins 30.43 meters
Men’s results
100-meter dash
2. w-Hall 10.54
5. w-Schuler 10.79
200-meter dash
1. Schuler 21.78
400-meter dash
3. Gilstrap 49.55
8. Beamon 52.14
13. Granillo 52.83
15. Davis 53.56
800 meters
5. Kern 1:57.05
10. Cowing 1:59.81
5,000 meters
3. S. Delmott 15:56.10
4. Hohmeier 16:02.54
6. Summers 16:19.53
8. A. Delmott 16:26.98
9. Wayman 16:39.04
11. Dvorak 17:16.76
400-meter hurdles
1. *Howze 53.29
10. Snyder 59.21
4 by 100-meter relay
2. Emporia State 41.2
4 by 400-meter relay
3. Emporia State 3:27.15
High jump
1. *Pyle 2.05 meters
2. Andrews 2.00 meters
4. Davis 1.90 meters
Long jump
1. *Honeycutt 7.25 meters
2. Marshall 7.09 meters
7. Granillo 6.55 meters
Triple jump
1. **#Honeycutt 16.39 meters
2. *Marshall 14.53 meters
Shot put
5. SanMartin 13.11 meters
Javelin throw
2. Nelson 53.00 meters
7. Davis 47.29 meters
Hammer throw
6. SanMartin 42.77 meters
9. Loyd 41.95 meters
**NCAA Automatic Qualifying Mark
*NCAA Provisional Qualifying Mark
# ESU School Record