March 29, 2008

Women's Track & Field Team Captures Wheeling Jesuit Invitational; Men Place Third

The Malone College men's and women's track & field teams competed at the Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University Invitational last Friday and Saturday and the women's team came away with a team championship among a 13-team field while the Pioneer men's team finished third overall.  In addition, the women's team tallied 10 event winners while the men's squad had five event champions.
    
The Malone women tallied 210 points to easily outdistance runner-up Wheeling Jesuit, which had 174 points.  Penn State-Behrend took third (86), Grove City (PA) College was fourth (68.5) and Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College rounded out the top five (55).
    
The Malone men finished with 139 points for their third-place finish as Penn State-Behrend took the men's team title with 185.5 points.  Grove City finished as runners-up (149.5), Wheeling Jesuit was fourth (111) and Bethany (WV) College rounded out the top five (45).
    
The women's team posted an impressive total of 10 event victories that included Holly Motter (Jr., Mt. Union, PA) in the high jump (4' 9.75") and the long jump (16' 6.5"), Laura McElrath (Sr., Tallmadge H.S.) in the 100-meter hurdles (17.43) and the heptathlon (4147 points), Vallie Scott (Jr., West Branch H.S.) in the 400 meters (1:00.10), Kim Winton (Jr., Medina H.S.) in the 800 meters (2:23.03), Becky Rospotynski (So., Copley H.S.) in the pole vault (11' 3"), Emily Alderfer (So., Urbana H.S.) in the hammer throw (136' 5"), Katie Murphy (Jr., St. Vincent-St. Mary H.S.) in the javelin (101' 10") and the women's 4x400-meter relay team of Megan Patton (Jr., Perry H.S.), Laura Scott (Fr., West Branch H.S.), Vallie Scott and Winton (4:10.52).  In addition, McElrath's point total in the heptathlon qualified her provisionally for the NAIA outdoor national meet.
    
The men's team notched five event wins of their own including Chris Sinick (So., Field H.S.) in the 800 meters (1:55.75), Shane McLaughlin (So., Caldwell H.S.) in the high jump (6' 3.5"), Steven Young (Fr., Gladstone, MO) in the triple jump (42' 10.25"), Brady West (Sr., West Muskingum H.S.) in the decathlon (5946 points) and the men's 4x400-meter relay team of Bryan Krieger (So., Cuyahoga Falls H.S.), Garrett Oliver (So., Benjamin Logan H.S.), Jason Brueckner (Sr., Crestview H.S.) and Chris Cruise (Sr., Field H.S.) in 3:24.41.
    
The women had numerous athletes who earned top-three finishes.  Taking second place in an event for the Malone women were Emily Grad (Fr., Field H.S.) in the 1500 meters (4:50.61), Danielle Wuensch (Fr., New London H.S.) in the 5000 meters (19:37.32), Megan Patton in the 400-meter hurdles (1:11.53), Emily Alderfer in the shot put (39' 5"), Lori Ickes (Fr., Smithville H.S.) in the discus (123' 8") and Beth Costello (Fr., Canton South H.S.) in the heptathlon (3463 points).
    
Taking third place for the women were Kayleigh Bildstein (Fr., Madison H.S.) in the 800 meters (2:24.02), Rebekah Genter (Jr., Crestview H.S.) in the 1500 meters (4:50.77), Bailey Teague (Fr., CVCA) in the 100-meter hurdles (18.04) and Amy Gladd (Fr., Butler, PA) in the heptathlon (3339 points).
    
The men also had numerous athletes taking top-three spots.  Second-place finishers were Mike Coates (Sr., Sandy Valley H.S.) in the 800 meters (1:58.21), Jason Brueckner in the 400-meter hurdles (57.00), Kyle Randolf (Fr., Galion H.S.) in the 3000-meter steeplechase (10:15.01), Justin Jump (Jr., Wellington H.S.) in the discus (140' 8") and Shane McLaughlin in the decathlon (5378 points).
    
Finishing third for the men were Bryan Krieger in the 400 meters (51.42), Chris Cruise in the 800 meters (1:59.97), Garrett Oliver in the 400-meter hurdles (57.34), Keith Burns (Jr., Minerva H.S.) in 3000-meter steeplechase (10:42.37), Justin Jump in the hammer throw (148' 11") and the men's 4x400-meter relay team (B team) of Jon Easterling (Jr., Ashtabula H.S.), Nik Schweikert (Jr., Beavercreek H.S.), Mike Coates and Chris Sinick (3:33.64).
    
This week, the Malone teams will host the Jack Hazen Open on Saturday.  A weigh-in and pump portion of a pump-and-run will be held from 7:00 - 8:15 a.m. (in the Wellness Center) with a 5K run to follow at 9:15 a.m.  Then, a full track meet will begin at 10:00 a.m. on the Malone track.  For complete information on the meet, visit www.malone.edu/7570.
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