The Slippery Rock University men’s and women’s track team took part in their second home meet this past Thursday during the SRU Open at the William Lennox Track.
They combined for 48 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) marks and eight NCAA provisional marks on Thursday at SRU.
Senior JJ Ollio also recorded two more NCAA marks as he took part of the Ashland Alumni Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Ashland University. Ollio hit his season-best in both discus and shot put. In discus, he recorded his second-best as well as the school’s second-best mark of 52.25 meters, and in shot put he recorded 16.68-meter throw. He placed third overall in the discus and first against all performing Division II athletes and second overall in shot put and first against Division II athletes.
Back at William Lennox Track, sophomore Reagan Hess won the 100-meter dash and the long jump, recording NCAA marks in both. Reagan won the long jump with her season-best 5.85-meter leap, then won the 100-meter dash in 11.89 seconds. Reagan also joined junior Emily Horstman, senior Megan Stephenson and freshman Rayna Stevenson in a 4×100-meter relay win in 47.00 seconds.
In the pole vault for the women, they took first, second and third as junior Maddy Marshall won for her third straight week with a 3.83-meter clearance, just beating out teammate and redshirt senior Courtney McQuaide with her 3.73-meter clearance. Both Marshall and McQuaide recorded NCAA marks. Freshman Sarah Schneider placed third with her 3.53-meter clearance and freshman Lily Plute closed things out for The Rock with her seventh-place finish with a 3.33-meter clearance.
Sophomore Austin Labesky threw a career best 60.53-meter javelin throw. Labesky took the win as well as an NCAA mark. Labesky was joined by freshman Dylan Close who finished third with a 56.16-meter throw and freshman Nate Marchand in seventh with a 50.58-meter throw.
Also hitting an NCAA mark in throws was junior Elaina Powell as she won the javelin throw with a 42.50-meter throw. Senior Rachel Demaria threw a 39.26-meter throw and sophomore Cassandra Wagner finished fourth with a 36.21-meter throw. Demaria also won in the shot put with a 13.02-meter throw and second in the discus with a 36.86-meter throw.
Junior Abby Way took home first place in the hammer throw with a 49.45-meter throw and second place in the shot put with a 12.12-meter throw. Way also placed fourth in the discus with a 35.34-meter throw. Junior Kati Palski closed out the throwers as she placed second in the hammer throw with a 44.28-meter throw.
“One of the things is we’ve had some great weather, plus we have a lot of outstanding athletes that are working extremely hard to do the best they can do at the conference championships,” SRU head coach John Papa said.
Sophomore Ryan Ferner won the hammer throw with a 47.61-meter throw. Ferner also placed third in the discus with a 42.88-meter throw. Freshman John Eakin placed second in shot put with a season-best 15.08-meter throw, followed by freshman Ryan Heller in third with a 13.73-meter throw. Sophomore Alec Morris finished off the throwing PSAC marks with his third place 43.44-meter throw.
In the triple jump, senior Caleb Smithco won with a 14.58-meter leap, just missing the NCAA mark of 14.66 meters. Junior Josiah Davis also hit the PSAC mark in the triple jump with a 13.34-meter leap and placed fifth. Davis finished in third in the high jump with a 1.88-meter clearance.
Closing out the field performances was freshman Cecily Greggs for the women and freshman Jakob Graff and freshman Christopher Butz for the men. Greggs won the high jump with a 1.63-meter clearance. Both Graff and Butz placed in the pole vault as Graff cleared 4.35 meters for sixth and Butz finished eleventh with a 4.00-meter clearance.
On the track, SRU recorded four PSAC marks. Junior Kyle Edgar won the 400-meter hurdles in 55.29 seconds. Junior Gunner Coleman recorded his personal best of 56.73 seconds as he placed third.
Freshman Megan Miller led the way as she won the 400-meter hurdles for the Rock in 1:08.15 Miller also placed second in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.77 seconds.
In the 100-meter dash senior Collin Darby placed second in 11.04 second and in the 200-meter dash Parker Reed placed third in 22.27 seconds.
For the women, Horstman won the 200-meter dash in 25.29 second, and also just missed the NCAA mark behind Hess in the 100-meter dash as she placed second in 11.94 seconds. Stephenson placed third in the 100-meter dash with a 12.13 seconds time.
Junior Courtney Nunley won the 400-meter dash in 59.19 seconds and placed second in the 200-meter dash in 25.52 seconds. Nunley also joined up with freshman Emma Fox, sophomore Alexis Marchando and freshman Morgan Donatelli to win the 4×400-meter relay in 4:15.44.
Closing out for the men there was four athletes that took part in the decathlon. For the men senior Steven Girgash, who hit the PSAC mark in the 100-meter dash in 10.94 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 49.75 seconds. Sophomore Ryan McQuown also hit PSAC marks in the 100-meter dash in 11.07 seconds, the high jump in 1.97 meters and the long jump with a 6.71-meter leap. Freshman Dylan Colcombe hit the PSAC mark in the long jump with a 6.62-meter clearance.
Ending things for the women, they had five athletes take place in the heptathlon. Junior Kadin Hinish lead the way as she recorded a PSAC mark with a 100-meter hurdle with 15.26 seconds. Freshman Kaitlyn Bonczyk cleared a PSAC mark of 1.61 meters in the high jump.
The team will travel to West Virginia University next Friday and Saturday for the WVU Invitational.
Looking ahead to the PSAC championships, Papa said that a big part of the team is at their best.
“We’re having a lot of season bests, a lot of personal bests, so it’s a good time of the year for that to happen,” Papa said. “We are really excited about what we can do at the conference championships.”
