The Slippery Rock University indoor track team took home 27 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) marks on Friday, as well as three marks for the NCAA provisional marks in Allendale, Michigan as part of the Grand Valley State University Big Meet.
The Rock men manage to record 10 PSAC markings and took one of the NCAA markings. The lone men’s marking came from senior JJ Ollio in the shot put. Ollio finished sixth as he recorded a 16.49-meter toss. He also participated in the weight throw, recording a 16.28-meter toss and finishing in No. 11 place.
Rock head coach John Papa talked about the possible opportunity for Ollio to perform in the National Championships in a couple of weeks and how getting to compete against top athletes in an event like this helps with experience.
“When you go to like nationals, or a meet where we were just at, there are quite a few people competing at the national level,” Papa said. “So, you get that good experience.”
For Rock women, redshirt senior Courtney McQuaide and junior Maddy Marshall continued their pole-vaulting dominance. McQuaide tied her season-high of a 3.87-meter clearance to finish in third and Marshall finished with a 3.77-meter clearance for a sixth-place finish. Both the ladies have had the opportunity to participate nationals in previous years, so they’ve competed against some of the same caliber athletes before.
“They looked pretty good,” Papa started. “I thought they had a very good meet, but I think they were thinking, ‘Hey I can do more,’ so they’re excited about their next big opportunity,” Papa said.
Also performing well in pole vaulting was freshman Sarah Schneider, as she hit the PSAC mark with a 3.42-meter clearance scoring her in No. 15 place.
In the field, junior Josiah Davis and freshman Cecily Greggs both recorded PSAC marks for the high jump. Davis finished fourth with a high jump clearance of 1.91 meters and fifth in the triple jump with a 13.41-meter leap. Greggs also finished fourth in the high jump with a 1.59-meter clearance.
Senior Jesse Romanchak joined Davis in hitting the PSAC mark for the triple jump. Romanchak recorded a 13.83-meter leap and finished in seventh place in the invite section.
As for the women, freshman Kaitlyn Bonczyk finished fifth overall in the triple jump with an 11.25-meter leap. Sophomore Reagan Hess also placed ninth (5.40 meters) as she participated in the invite section of the long jump.
On the track, in the 60-meter dash, senior Collin Darby recorded PSAC mark of 7.14 seconds and finished 25 overall. senior Jeff Bailey (7.19) and junior Nathan Kibbie (7.21) followed for a 34 and 37 finish.
In the 60-meter dash for the women, junior Emily Horstman finished 13 overall in 7.77 seconds to hit the PSAC mark. Senior Megan Stephenson followed her with 7.92 seconds to place 28 overall.
Senior Caleb Smithco joined by Darby, Bailey and senior Isacc Moodie finished sixth in the 4×400-meter relay in 3:18.09, which was their season best. Smithco also recorded a 49.97-second dash in the 400-meter dash.
For the mid-distance women, senior Madison Przicina and junior Kacey Raible hit PSAC marks. Przicina finished No. 30 in the 800-meter run in 2:17.37 and Raible finished No. 41 in the mile in 5:12.24. Junior John Marenkovic also competed in the mile as he finished with a time of 4:20.63.
Horstman and Przicina teamed up with senior Aerial Dukes and freshman Morgan Donatelli to place No. 13 in the 4×400 meter relay. The women recorded their season-best time of 3:57.09.
In the 3,000 meter run, sophomore Juliet Ryan finished with a 10:17.94 as she hit the PSAC mark coming in No. 36. In the 5,000 meter run, freshman Julianna Stevens also hit the PSAC mark with finished No. 97 in 18:54.43.
Finishing off the PSAC markings was freshman Megan Miller as she finished the 60-meter hurdles in 9.71 seconds.
Slippery Rock will return to action next week with their full roster as they compete in the Edinboro “Last Chance” Meet. This allows for one more opportunity for track and field members to qualify for the PSAC Championships on Feb. 23 and 24 at Edinboro University.
“A few of our athletes haven’t qualified yet that we think are gonna be capable of scoring points for us, so they are going to go up there with that intent,” Papa said about next week. “We’re just kind of tuning up a little bit and working out a few kinks in some of the events.”
