The Slippery Rock University men’s indoor track and field team took third place at the NCAA Division II Team Challenge on Saturday with a score of 60.5 points.
Six Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schools competed at the event and the Rock finished as the top team among them.
Head coach John Papa thought the team performed well at the meet, but said there are still areas that need improvement.
“This week we’re focusing on improving our technique in the vault, jumps, throws and hurdles,” Papa explained. “The sprinters and distance runners are focusing on hitting practice times suggested by their coaches. We’re preparing to be significantly better in two weeks for the indoor PSAC championships.”
The meet resulted in 25 PSAC qualifying performances for the Rock.
In the pole vault, Cameron Daugherty cleared 5.08 meters and took the win. Ryan Camody placed sixth with a clearance of 4.33 meters and Kieffer Reed placed 10th at 4.03 meters.
Junior Victor Santoyo cleared 1.94 meters in the high jump to take third place.
The shot put produced a third place finish from Kyle Toms with a toss of 15.42 meters, just missing the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. PSAC qualifying performances came from Jerrod Galloway, who placed sixth (14.66 meters), and Trevor Miller, who took 10th (14.02 meters).
In the 800-meter run, Kevin Jewel placed first with a time of 1:54.74, nearly a second before the second-place runner from Tiffin University. Tyler Melius took ninth with a time of 1:59.42.
Hunter Williams and Trevor Foley placed top-10 in the 400-meter dash for the Rock. Williams placed ninth in the event with a time of 49.83 seconds, with Foley just behind in 10th (50.10 seconds).
Travis Arrigoni said that the team faced tough competition at the event.
“We got a good idea of where we stand in the PSAC and DII,” Arrigoni said. “We all have a lot of work to do, but we’re pretty much where we need to be right now.”
Arrigoni competed in the 5,000-meter run, placing seventh with a time of 15:15.91. He was joined by Eric Geddis in 10th at 15:24.68 and Theodore Reynolds in 17th at 15:42.68.
Arrigoni felt good about his performance on Saturday, but anticipates better results to come in the future.
“I hadn’t raced the 5K in awhile so I was pleased with where I was at,” Arrigoni said. “I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m happy to be moving in a positive direction in my training.”
Slippery Rock’s 4×400-meter relay team of Williams, Foley, Ethan Geisler and Mason McLaughlin placed fifth with a time of 3:19.83.
DJ Chisom placed fourth in the 60-meter dash at 7.03 seconds.
Morgan Elliott ran the mile in 4:24.55 to earn fifth place.
In the heptathlon, Hans Lubich placed fourth with a final score of 3,867 points.
SRU heads to Baldwin-Wallace today for the Baldwin-Wallace Invitational.
“Some of our athletes will be running events that they normally run for training purposes,” Papa said. “We’re also hoping for some additional athletes to reach PSAC qualifying standards.”
