The Slippery Rock men’s track and field team had their final tune up of the season last weekend at the Ashland Open in Ohio.
The team produced one NCAA provisional mark and fourteen Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference qualifying marks. Many athletes have already qualified for the conference meet and are not included in that total number. Junior David Reinhardt led the men at the two day meet with a NCAA provisional throw in the javelin.
The defending NCAA Division II national champion threw a distance of 59.39 meters taking second place. Reinhardt also competed in the discus and hammer throw taking 11th and 13th with throws of 44.29 meters and 50.66 meters.
Senior Nick Garuccio and senior Nick Turk also competed in the hammer throw and had distances of 48.52 meters and 45.89 meters. Trevor Miller placed ninth in the discus with a throw of 14.86 meters.
The 4×100 meter relay consisted of sophomore Erik Record, senior Monte Chapman, sophomore Brandon Vanderbrook and senior Hunter Williams.
The squad took fourth place with a time of 42.45 seconds. Sophomore Logan Mooney ran the 400 meter hurdles taking seventh with a time of 55.43 seconds.
The distance squad also had a successful day with sophomore Tyler Palenchak and senior Tyler Melius taking fifth and ninth places in the 800 meter run. Senior Connor MacKelvey and senior Theodore Reynolds competed in the 3,000 meter steeple chase placing fifth and seventh place. MacKelvey ran a time of 9:57.43 in the race, making it his first time ever to qualify for the PSAC meet.
“After three years of determination and hard work on the team, I finally qualified for the PSAC Conference in the 3,000 meter steeplechase,” senior runner MacKelvey said. “I seriously cannot wait to wear my green and white jersey this weekend to represent the school and team I absolutely love.”
The pole vault team had a successful day with junior Michael Horrigan and freshman Andrew Koksal vaulting at 4.62 meters taking fifth and sixth place. Senior Andrew Lovano followed behind in thirteenth place at 4.32 meters.
The final PSAC marks of the meet were in the long jump. Freshman Caleb Smithco recorded a distance of 6.60 meters placing sixth. Junior Cody Colagrande and freshman Jared Geist took seventh and eighth place at 6.54 meters and 6.38 meters. The men’s team is extremely excited to compete this week to represent their school in hopes of bringing home the blue trophy.
“In completing the regular season of our outdoor track and field season this past Saturday at Ashland, my fellow teammates and I have worked extremely hard to make it to this point in the season and perform to the best of our abilities at conference,” MacKelvey said. “The hard work is already done to compete this week. We just need to focus and know our capabilities. When we put on our jerseys this weekend to compete, we are not only going to be taking pride in our team, but pride in our school as well.”
The Green and White will travel to East Stroudsburg University for the three day event beginning April 30 this weekend. The men have recorded twelve PSAC team wins in history, the last one being in 2008.
