The two-day Youngstown State University National Invite brought out five total NCAA qualifying marks from the Slippery Rock men’s and women’s indoor track teams.
Friday’s highlight for the Rock came from freshman Sabrina Anderson, who took first in the pentathlon and recorded two NCAA qualifying marks.
Anderson hit the mark for the entire pentathlon with a score of 3,387 points and also reached the NCAA mark in the high jump with a clearance of 1.67 meters while completing the pentathlon.
Her score ranks 20th in Division II athletes and first in the PSAC.
“It felt good to win the event at YSU,” Anderson said, “but it was more rewarding to see that I had made improvements in three of the five events. I want to keep improving my marks and be a national contender in NC.”
Men’s weight throwers were led by a third place finish and throw of 16.33 meters by junior Nick Turk.
Junior Brittany Christiansen led the women’s throwers with a toss of 15.65 meters, earning her third place.
Senior Julia Cain took third place in pole vault, clearing 3.45 meters.
The Rock ended day one with 10 PSAC marks from the women’s team and 10 PSAC marks from the men’s team.
On day two, SRU’s men’s team recorded three NCAA provisional qualifying marks, along with 17 PSAC marks, and the women’s team earned 22 PSAC qualifying marks.
Sophomore Cody Colagrande, junior Jerrod Galloway and senior Hans Lubich reached NCAA qualifying marks in their respective events for the men’s team.
Colagrande placed first in the men’s pole vault with a score of 4.70m.
Freshman Jordan Pacheco, freshman Samual Shipley, senior John Piserchio and sophomore Keiffer Reed all placed top-10 in the event with clearances of 4.40 meters. Pacheco finished fourth, Shipley in fifth, Piserchio in seventh and Reed in ninth.
Galloway reached his NCAA qualifying mark in the shot put with a toss of 16.06 meters. This mark was Galloway’s career best in the event.
Lubich earned his NCAA qualifying mark with 4,635 points in the heptathlon. He placed second in the event behind assistant coach Brady Wert with 4,727 points. Third place was taken by sophomore Nate Zigler with 4,319 points.
“It is great to have these three athletes healthy and competing at their best at this point of the season,” head coach John Papa said.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay competed a season-best time of 3:18.41, earning them second place at YSU.
The relay team consisted of freshman Jacob VanHouton, junior Hunter Williams, senior Nathaniel Helferrich, and senior Trevor Foley.
“We were really excited that we got a personal record for the year and we’re close to the school record (3:19.94),” VanHouton said. “I know we’re all going to train hard the next few weeks and go after it.”
Williams and Foley helped set the school record in 2012 with teammates Ethan Geisler and Kevin Jewel.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team of sophomores Lexie Nowakowski, Jasmine Bailey, Cassandra Swartzbaugh and Creanna Martin ran their season-best and placed fourth with a time of 3:59.71.
Bailey also led the way for SRU 200-meter runners by placing fifth with a time of 25.94 seconds. She was followed by junior Katelyn Wetzel in eighth with a time of 26.14 seconds and sophomore Emily Moroco in 13th with 26.32.
In the 60-meter dash, Moroco finished in 8.0 seconds and placed ninth. Bailey followed with an 8.01 second 10th-place finish. Wetzel finished 11th at 8.02 seconds.
“I always shoot to break 8.00,” Moroco said. “I try to stay consistent with this time to give myself and the rest of the team help during the season.”
The SRU women had three top-10 finishes in the triple jump. Senior Dilshani Madawala finished in sixth with a leap of 10.84 meters.
Sophomore Sam Taylor closely followed with a leap of 10.83 meters and a seventh place finish.
Sophomore Paige Kassab placed eighth with a 10.73 meter leap.
All three reached the PSAC qualifying mark with their marks.
The two highest placing SRU women were both in the 3,000-meter run, including senior Kara Styles who placed second with a time of 10:10.22. Sophomore Jenny Picot placed 3rd behind Styles with a 10:13.27.
Slippery Rock will prepare for the Kent State Tune-Up on Feb. 22nd.
