Republic’s Ekene Chukwu shattered a 20-year-old school record in the discus, highlighting a strong showing by the Tigers at the Jason Pyrah Invitational in Willard. Chukwu’s throw of 49.98 meters (164 feet) broke the previous mark of 153’6″ set by Ryan Anstaett in 2005.
Chukwu’s discus victory was one of several first-place finishes for Republic at the meet. Gracie Troester dominated the distance events, winning both the 1600-meter run (5:19.87) and the 3200-meter run (11:31.01). Reese Finley captured gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.34 seconds and added a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash (26.66).
The Lady Tigers’ 4×800-meter relay team also claimed victory, finishing in 9:59.45.
In field events, Landon Harper took second place in the shot put with a throw of 14.06 meters, while Kaleb Norman finished second in the javelin (47.27m). Danny Fair earned silver in the pole vault, clearing 3.8 meters.
Keiran Govan collected two medals, finishing second in the triple jump (12.68m) and third in the high jump (1.85m). Will Payne placed third in the 300-meter hurdles (41.32) and fifth in the 800-meter run (2:10.24).
For the girls team, Brylie Harris took third in the 800-meter run (2:31.04), and Madison Chevalier placed third in the javelin (33.7m). The 4×200-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams both earned bronze medals with times of 1:48.69 and 4:21.24, respectively.
Other notable Republic performances included Aiden Schaefer (4th) and CJ Uhl (5th) in the discus, Grayson Hart (5th) in the shot put, and Izaiah Hull (5th) in the javelin.
Get every story delivered.
Tiger Wire — Republic sports news, free every morning.