April 19, 2008

Pioneer Men Capture AMC Championship; Women Finish Runner-Up

 
The Malone College men's track & field team captured the team title at the American Mideast Conference Championships last Friday and Saturday (hosted by Malone College) while the Pioneer women's team finished a close runner-up at the meet.  In addition, Malone head coach Charlie Grimes was voted the AMC Men's Coach of the Year.
    
For the men, Malone tallied 222 points to easily defeat runner-up Cedarville University, which had 198 points, among a seven-team field.  Notre Dame (OH) College finished third (129), Houghton (NY) College placed fourth (106), Walsh University was fifth (82), University of Rio Grande took sixth (81) and Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College came in seventh (19). 
   
For the women, Malone finished with 211.33 points, just three points behind Cedarville University, which won with 214.33 points, among an eight-team field.  Notre Dame took third (138), Walsh was fourth (111), Houghton placed fifth (82), Roberts Wesleyan came in sixth (48), Ursuline College finished seventh (35) and Rio Grande placed eighth (6.33).
    
The Malone men crowned six individual event champions while a relay team also won its event.  All first-place finishers were named All-AMC First Team.  Steven Young (Fr., Gladstone, MO) took the triple jump (43' 10.75"), Jeb Ford (Jr., Minerva H.S.) captured the 400 meters (48.74), Chris Sinick (So., Field H.S.) won the 800 meters (1:56.19), Garrett Oliver (So., Benjamin Logan H.S.) claimed the 400-meter hurdles (54.61), Matt Nichols (Fr., Crestwood H.S.) took the 5000 meters (15:27.94), Aaron Melhorn (Fr., Fairless H.S.) cruised to the 10,000-meter title (32:47.59) and the men's 4x800-meter relay team of Chris Cruise (Sr., Field H.S.), Ryan Kienzle (Sr., GlenOak H.S.), Mike Coates (Sr., Sandy Valley H.S.) and Chris Sinick won its race in a time of 7:41.85.  In addition, that relay time was a school record, a meet record and an NAIA nationals automatic qualifying time.
    
The Malone women also crowned two individual event champions -- Emily Alderfer (So., Urbana H.S.) in the hammer throw (145' 2") and Becky Rospotynski (So, Copley H.S.) in the pole vault (11' 1.175").  Both were named All-AMC First Team.
    
Second-place finishers for the men, all of whom earned All-AMC Second Team honors, included Justin Jump (Jr., Wellington H.S.) in the hammer throw (168' 10"), Roger Berning (So., Battle Creek, MI) in the javelin (161' 1"), James Zeuch (Fr., Galion H.S.) in the 3000-meter steeplechase (9:31.37), Cruise in the 400 meters (48.75) and Shane McLaughlin (So., Caldwell H.S.) in the high jump (6' 8").
     
Brady West (Sr., West Muskingum H.S.) pocketed four third-place finishes himself at the meet -- in the 110-meter hurdles (15.80h), the javelin (159' 8"), the high jump (6' 2") and the pole vault (13' 5.25).  Other third-place finishers for the men were Kyle Randolph (Fr., Galion H.S.) in the 3000-meter steeplechase (10:00.75), Nik Schweikert (Jr., Beavercreek H.S.) in the 1500 meters (4:00.56), Justin Baum (Sr., Kenston H.S.) in the 5000 meters (15:37.42), Shane McLaughlin in the long jump (20' 8.5"), Justin Jump in the discus (146' 6") and the men's 4x100-meter relay team of Oliver, Josh Chaffin (Jr., Norwayne H.S.), Bryan McCanna (Fr., Smithville H.S.) and Bryan Krieger (So., Cuyahoga Falls H.S.) in a time of 44.37 seconds.
    
For the women, second-place finishers included Holly Motter (Jr., Mt. Union, PA) in the triple jump (34' 7.75") and in the long jump (17' 7.5"), Megan Patton (Jr., Perry H.S.) in the 100-meter hurdles (15.50), Lori Ickes (Fr., Smithville H.S.) in the javelin (125' 0"), Lindsey Pifher (Fr., Colonel Crawford H.S.) in the 3000-meter steeplechase (11:37.63), Alderfer in the shot put (40' 6.25") and the women's 4x800-meter relay team of Kayleigh Bildstein (Fr., Madison H.S.), Megan Miller (Fr., Crestwood H.S.), Amanda Theis (Fr., Seneca East H.S.) and Kim Winton (Jr., Medina H.S.) in an NAIA provisional qualifying time of 9:38.24.
    
Third-place finishers for the women included Vallie Scott (Jr., West Branch H.S.) in the 200 meters (26.30) and in the 400 meters (58.59), Kortney Sekulich (Jr., Smithville H.S.) in the 3000-meter race walk (19:12.20), Patton in the 400-meter hurdles (1:06.40), Rebekah Genter (Jr., Crestview H.S.) in the 5000 meters (18:02.36), Motter in the high jump (5' 1.75"), Ickes in the discus (127' 1"), Gabrielle Wuensch (Fr., New London H.S.) in the 10,000 meters (42:17.24) and the women's 4x400-meter relay team of Winton, Patton, Theis and Vallie Scott in a time of 4:04.86.
    
This week, the Malone teams will compete at the Hillsdale College "Gina" Relays in Hillsdale, Michigan on Saturday.
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