The men’s and women’s track and field squads traveled to Marietta
College and Duke University this past weekend. At the Duke
Invitational, the team saw solid performances from a collection of
runners against outstanding Division I competition. Thomas Buxton
placed sixth out of 104 runners in the 800 meter run with a time of
1:55.83. Jeremy Lee’s time of 3:54.25 in the 1500 meter run earned him
a 12th place finish, while Chad Roberts finished 16th in the 5000 meter
run with a time of 15:18.45. Kacey Pinkerton and Heidi Kiesel were the
top performers on for the women and finished the 5000 meter run with
times of 20:31.78 and 20:34.79, respectively.
At the Don Frail Invitational, held at Marietta College, both men’s and women’s teams placed third overall with seven event victories between the two squads. On the women’s side, Andrea Bader won both the 100 and 200 meter dashes; Bader won the 100 meter dash in 12.51 seconds and the 200 meter dash in 25.18 seconds. Jasmine Hopkins placed fourth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.82 seconds, while Katrina Schumacker finished the event in eighth place with a time of 13.61 seconds. Kathy Kernen won the hammer throw competition with a mark of 42.37 meters, with teammates Christine Moyer (41.72m) and Rachel Fitzwater (36.63m) finishing third and fifth, respectively. Fitzwater won the discus throw competition with a throw of 34.42 meters, edging out Melissa Jones (34.22m) and Kernen (33.62m) for the top spot. In the shot put event, Kristen Ameling won with a throw of 12.39 meters, with teammates Jennifer Dietrick (11.39m) and Cara Roach (11.38m) placing fourth and fifth, respectively. Other top performers for the Lady Dragons include: Angela Betterley finishing fourth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 17.45 seconds and in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:09.69; Jennifer Dietrick placing seventh in the javelin throw (20.01m); Jennifer Shafer (4.59m) and Schumacker (4.32m) placing fifth and eighth, respectively, in the long jump; Jennifer Mitsoff placing third in the pole vault; and Amy Buck placing fifth in the triple jump (9.05m).
Also at Marietta, Ramone Brant and Keith Reiter earned the only two victories for the men’s team that finished behind Bridgewater (VA) and the host team. Brant won the 110m hurdle event in 14.82 seconds, while Reiter won a Dragon-dominated pole vault event with a mark of 4.55 meters. The Dragons managed to claim four of the next six spots in the pole vault, with teammates Brett Rieke (third-4.40m), Alex Boyd (fourth-4.25m), Eli Nichols (4.10m), and Luke VanHorn (seventh-3.65m) earning points for the squad. Jason Shelnick finished second in the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.20 seconds, while the 4x100m relay team of Boyd, Chad Johnson, Nicholas Thomas, and Bryon Toran finished second with a time of 43.98 seconds. Michael Ballistrea joined Johnson, Toran, and James Carlson to take fourth in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:32.47. In the 200 meter dash, Toran (23.07 seconds) and Johnson (23.09 seconds) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, while Carlson took seventh in the 400m dash with a time of 53.40 seconds, edging teammate Dan Snyder who finished in 53.69 seconds. Snyder also finished fifth in the javelin throw with a mark of 45.86 meters, while placing fourth in their respective events were Riley Morman in the high jump (1.78m) and Mike Eblin (4:29.49) in the 1500m run.