The Slippery Rock University men’s track team had 24 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference qualifying performances as they won the SRU Open in dominating fashion Thursday.
Freshman Jordan Pacheco won the pole vault event and reached the NCAA provisional mark with a clearance of 4.80 meters.
“We were able to set up the runway so we had a tail wind,” said Pacheco. “It was slightly frustrating, though, because while I was happy to clear 15’9″, I was looking good for 16’3″ and just really didn’t time one up. I’m hoping to get it at Ashland next weekend and book my trip to nationals.”
Pacheco led sophomores Cody Colagrande and Keiffer Reed, and freshman Samuel Shipley to sweep the event. Colagrande took second place with a clearance of 4.65. Shipley took third place with a clearance of 4.50 meters, and Reed took fourth place with a clearance of 4.35 meters.
Freshman Tyler Kachelries won the javelin with an NCAA provisional mark and season best throw of 63.08 meters. Sophomore David Reinhardt took third place with a PSAC mark of 57.51 meters.
“Tyler has been consistent this year competing at a high level. He had an especially good javelin competition this past Thursday,” said head coach John Papa. “Tyler, along with several other throwers from the men’s team had personal best throws this past weekend. It is good to know that with the PSAC Championships coming up that they are peaking at the right time.”
The Green and White won the team title with a score of 205.5 points, thanks to an outstanding performance from Rock throwers. Five Rock throwers reached the conference standard in the hammer throw, one of which being senior Billy Martin who took first place in the event with a toss of 52.85 meters. Reinhardt took second place with a throw of 51.55 meters. Junior Nick Garuccio took fourth place with a 49.21 meter throw, and junior Trevor Miller had a toss of 49.05 meters to land him in seventh place.
Reinhardt also had success in discus with a 45.26 meter throw to win the event. Senior Andrew Greenslade broke into the top-ten with a ninth place finish of 41.30.
Shot put was won by Miller with a 15.42 meter throw. Miller was followed by sophomore Kaleb Kingston in second place with a throw of 14.37 meters, and Reinhardt took third place at 13.81 meters.
Victor Santoyo won the triple jump with a leap of 13.94 meters. Santoyo later took third place in the high jump with a 1.95 meter jump. Santoyo was closely followed by senior Hans Lubich in fourth place with a jump of 1.90 meters. Lubich later took sixth place in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.01 seconds.
Slippery Rock men continued to shine on the track with several wins in the 400 meter dash, 800 meter run, and 400 meter hurdles. Junior Hunter Williams won the 400 meter dash with a finishing time of 49.10 seconds. Junior Ryan Thompson won the 800 meter run with a time of 1:57.00, which made him only the 12th athlete in the PSAC to reach the qualifying standard. Senior Trevor Foley and senior Nathaniel Helfferich took first and second place respectively in the 400 meter hurdles with time of 55.00 seconds and 55.13 seconds.
The last win of the day came from the men’s 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:24.97. The team was made up of Foley, Helfferich, Lubich, and freshman Logan Mooney.
The Rock men will look to continue their dominance when they travel to Ashland University in Ohio next weekend, April 25.
