Three meets into the indoor track and field season is all it took for freshman distance runner Janine Powis to break Slippery Rock’s record book.
At the Youngstown State Invitational, Powis won the 800-meter run event with a time of 2:14.91, beating the previous record of 2:15.60, held by Blanca D’Hoedt since 1983. Powis’s time will be recorded as 2:15.31 in the record books due to track size conversions.
“I didn’t even realize I’d broken the record until ten minutes after my race when Coach Pap came up to me and told me. With it being the first meet in over a month, I wasn’t expecting to get near a time like that so I was really happy,” Powissaid.
Powis also set another record, running the fastest 800-meter race ever completed at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
Senior Caitlin Hancox ran the 800-meter run also, posting a time of 2:20.72 to place fourth.
Junior Stephanie Case finished third in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:30.76.
Senior Kim Stitt received two fourth-place finishes, making a jump of 11.04 meters in the triple jump and 5.22 meters in the long jump.
Sophomore Julia Cain cleared 3.42 meters to finish fourth place in the pole vault.
Senior Sandy Kakraba had a season-long throw of 13.34 meters to take home 10th place in the weight throw.
Slippery Rock’s men’s team also had a successful day of competition. The 4×400-meter relay team comprised of junior Kevin Jewel, freshman Hunter Williams, sophomore Trevor Foley, and senior Vanere Maynard won the event with a time of 3:23.57.
The Rock placed two more relay teams in the top-10 of the 4×400-meter relay. Earning fifth place was the team of junior Mason McLaughlin, freshman Monte Chapman, junior Ethan Geisler, and senior Dan Hedglin with a time of 3:28.24. In tenth place with a time of 3:36.62 was sophomore Daniel Helfferich, senior Joe Spears, junior DJ Chisom, and sophomore Jonathan Boyd.
Hedglin also competed in the 60-meter hurdles and finished second with a time of 8.33.
In the shot put, senior Chad Noce, placed 16th while qualifying for the PSAC championships in his first meet as a member of the team with a throw of 13.63 meters.
Sophomore David Caldwell and freshman Andrew Lovano finished 10th and 11th in the pole vault with matching clearances of 4.15 meters.
Qualifying for the PSAC Championships in the 3,000-meter run were three distance runners. Sophomore Morgan Elliott placed third with a time of 8:45.67, sophomore Travis Arrigoni in sixth at 8:48.12, and junior Alex Koksal in 11th at 8:54.77.
With a successful meet behind both the men’s and women’s teams, training resumed on Monday in preparation for the next meet.
“This weekend we will have a lot better competition. A lot of the best D-II schools from the area will be there and we have to be ready to go,” Foley said.
Slippery Rock heads to Geneva, Ohio on Saturday for the NCAA D-II Challenge.
