The Slippery Rock University men’s indoor track team secured 27 Pennsylvania State Athletic qualifying marks and 14 top 10 finishes at the SPIRE Midwest Open meet in Geneva, Ohio last Saturday.
SRU also had one provisional qualifying mark and one victory to go along with the rest of their success.
“We had a strong performance by the middle distance men, as well as all of the other events,” SRU head coach John Papa said. “We hope to put it all together at the PSAC meet at the end of February, but we still have much work and improvements to make in the next four weeks.”
The throwers had a good showing, with senior Trevor Miller reaching the provisional mark in the shot put with a distance of 16.36 meters, putting him in second place. Miller has now met the provisional mark each time he has competed this season.
Junior David Reinhardt placed 12th in the shot put with a distance of 13.88 meters, joining Miller in another PSAC mark. Both men also competed in the weight throw. Reinhardt placed third with a distance of 16.66 meters, and Miller placed fifth with a distance of 16.50 meters. Senior Nick Garuccio joined the men in ninth with a distance of 14.83 meters.
Other field events included sophomore Jordan Pacheco placing sixth in the pole vault, clearing 4.55 meters. Shawn Lacue also had an impressive performance in the high jump, placing 10th at 1.90 meters.
The record-breaking 4×400 meter relay team took first place at the meet with a time of 3:20.65. Sophomore Jacob VanHouten, senior Hunter Williams, senior Monte Chapman and freshman James Chandler made up the relay team. Williams, VanHouten and Chapman all competed in the 400 meter dash placing seventh, ninth and 12th with times of 49.91 seconds, 50.07 seconds and 50.86 seconds respectively. Williams, Chapman and sophomore Erik Record also competed in the 200 meter dash with times of 22.32 seconds, 22.89 seconds and 22.59 seconds respectively.
Williams currently has the second fastest mark of any PSAC athlete in the 200 meter dash this season.
The distance group had a strong performance, with senior Tyler Melius leading the way, placing third in the mile at 4:14.60. Other competitors in the mile included junior Ryan Thompson and sophomores Stephen Shephard and Tyler Palenchak, placing 11th, 18th and 25th respectively. All four men qualified for the PSAC meet.
Thompson and Shephard joined sophomore Zac Patton in the 800 meter run with times of 1:58.17, 1:57.98 and 1:57:86 respectively. All three men reached the PSAC mark in this event. Rounding out the distance events were senior Jaron Martin and junior Charlie Frank in the 5,000 meter run. The men recorded times of 15:37.85 and 15:18.23.
“I think the men did very well,” Frank said. “We have a lot of potential, and it was great to see us take a step in the right direction. We have been training hard and encouraging each other, so, it’s nice to see that translate onto the track.”
The Green and White are set to compete this weekend at Youngstown State University for the YSU National Invite on Friday and Saturday night.
