Bynes, Relay Set Facility Records at Chadron State Home Meet
By Paxton Ritchey
By News Channel NebraskaCHADRON, Neb. – Chayton Bynes re-christened the Chadron State track in dominant fashion, setting a school record, facility record, NCAA provisional qualifier and current No. 1 mark in Division II with a triple-jump leap of 15.73 meters (51 feet, 7.25 inches) at the Con Marshall Early Bird on Friday in Chadron.
Bynes broke his own school record of 15.54 meters (51 feet even), set in March 2025 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. His Friday jump of 15.73 is a full meter past the NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 14.73 and is over nine inches farther than anyone else has jumped in Division II so far in the early stages of the outdoor season.
The Chadron State 4x100 relay team also set a new facility record and NCAA provisional qualifier as the quartet of Augustin Chiang, Esosa Iyengunmwena, Ryan Clapper and Joshua St. Jean circling the track in 40.35 seconds. That time is the third-fastest in Division II so far this season.
Including the record-setters, Chadron State finished with 18 total event wins, exceeding the tallies of South Dakota Mines (14) and Black Hills State (six) and capping a successful day at the first collegiate outdoor meet held in Chadron since the 2023 RMAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The Eagles split their wins evenly with the women taking home nine events and the men winning eight individual events plus the relay. Chadron State swept the 100, 200, steeplechase, shot put and triple jump across both genders on Friday.
Esosa Iyengunmwena was a triple winner, taking home the individual 100 and 200-meter titles in addition to his place on the winning 4x100 relay. Iyengunmwena ran the 100 in 10.64 seconds, 0.02 off his college-best time, and crossed the 200-meter line in 21.72 seconds.
Aside from Iyengunmwena and Bynes, the other men's event winners for Chadron State on Friday were Christopher Cormier (400 meters, 47.98), Miles Mitchell (3000-meter steeplechase, 10:29.78), Kaden Boltz (5000 meters, 15:44.73), Tavion Leatherdale (discus, 48.09m) and Casey Miller (shot put, 15.61m).
The women's event winners were Wongel Molla (100 meters, 12.61), Laynie Goertz (200 meters, 26.04), Paige Kehmeier (800 meters, 2:26.57), Kyndall Carnahan (300-meter steeplechase, 12:21.15), Lydia Peters (10,000 meters, 41:06.50), Cordaelia Williams (high jump, 1.45m), November Diers (javelin, 36.51m), Shelby Ekwall (shot put, 13.47m) and Mataya Ward (triple jump, 10.98m).
Mitchell hit a personal-best by over 25 seconds in his event while Diers crushed her previous personal best by over 4.5 meters to win the javelin.
Molla and Goertz hit personal bests in both the 100 (where Goertz was the runner-up to Molla) and the 200 (where Molla finished third behind Goertz and Kehmeier). While thrower Sydney Alles did not win an event, she PR'd twice in both the hammer throw (46.00m) and discus (36.96m).
For a complete list of results, click this link.
The Eagle team will be back in action next weekend at the Central Nebraska Challenge, hosted by Nebraska-Kearney on March 27-28.