The Slippery Rock men’s and women’s indoor track teams secured a combined 19 top-10 finishes and 40 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference qualifying marks at the Youngstown State University Invitational last Friday.
“It’s obvious by our performance level at YSU that the athletes worked out faithfully over the long semester break,” head coach John Papa said. “I feel that the teams had some very good performances, however we all need to sharpen our skills and improve our fitness level this next month.”
The Rock women earned nine top-10 finishes and 19 PSAC qualifying marks.
“We had several PSAC qualifying performances in almost every event area,” Papa said. “We also had a school record in the weight throw from Brittany Christiansen.”
Christiansen set the record last weekend with a throw of 15.79 meters and threw for 16.56 meters at YSU to break her own record, hit NCAA qualifying standards and finish eighth overall.
Senior Amanda McCool met PSAC standards in the weight throw with a throw of 13.68 meters, as well as sophomore Breanna Northcott at 13.31 meters and sophomore Marissa Buccilli at 12.57 meters.
In the shot put, freshman Ava Bonetti qualified at 12.10 meters, Christinasen at 11.45 meters, freshman Caitlin Whalen at 11.30 meters and Northcott at 11.17 meters.
Sophomore Mariah Burns placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 5.38 meters. Burns was joined in the top-10 by sophomore Sam Taylor with a leap of 5.28 meters and a seventh place finish.
Senior Kara Styles took fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:32.66.
Junior Janine Powis finished fifth in the mile with a time of 5:11.61.
The 4×400-meter relay team of sophomore Lexie Nowakoski, sophomore Jasmine Bailey, sophomore Cassandra Swartzbaugh and sophomore London Parris finished seventh with a time of 4:08.23.
Parris also took sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.42 seconds, followed by freshman Caryl Evans in 13th at 9.69 seconds.
The men’s team earned 10 top-10 finishes and 21 PSAC qualifying marks.
Junior Jarrod Galloway finished sixth in the shot put with an NCAA qualifying distance of 15.78 meters. Junior Trevor Miller and sophomore Kaleb Kingston met PSAC standards, Miller placed 12th with a throw of 15.14 meters and Kingston in 21st at 13.92 meters.
In the weight throw, junior Nick Turk placed eighth at 16.03 meters, followed by senior Billy Martin in tenth at 15.75 meters, sophomore David Reinhardt in 13th at 15.38 meters, Miller in 15th at 14.95 meters and Galloway in 19th at 14.27 meters.
Rock vaulters were led by a third-place finish from sophomore Cody Colagrande. Colagrande cleared 4.60 meters and was joined by freshmen Jordan Pacheco and Samuel Shipley in the top-10. Pacheco and Shipley both cleared 4.30 meters but Pacheco tied for fourth and Shipley finished ninth due to missed vaults.
Senior Victor Santoyo had a PSAC qualifying mark in the long jump, finishing fifth with a leap of 6.56 meters.
SRU had three qualifiers in the 400-meter dash.
Junior Hunter Williams led the way with a fifth-place finish of 49.33 seconds. Williams was followed by freshman Jacob VanHouten in 14th 50.66 seconds and senior Trevor Foley in 22nd at 51.29 seconds.
The 4×400-meter team of Williams, VanHouten, Foley and senior Nathaniel Helfferich placed fifth with a time of 3:24.13.
Foley also reached the PSAC standard in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.97 seconds.
“Trevor is a very determined and hardworking athlete,” sophomore sprinter Michael Hartos said. “He’s a captain and a good role model for the rest of us.”
Hartos ran a 9.04 in the 60-meter hurdles, placing second amongst SRU hurdlers.
Slippery Rock heads to the SPIRE facility in Geneva, Ohio this weekend to compete in the Division II Challenge.
