2008 Woodie Awards
Track leaps past competition at PSAC West Challenge
By Terry Rodgers
Rocket Contributor
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports
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The Rock hosted the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Challenge and ran away with two convincing team wins over what appeared to be inferior competition.
The SRU men's team doubled up its next closest competitor, California University of Pennsylvania, by a score of 244 to 120. Indiana University of Pennsylvania captured third place with 100 points.
It was more of the same on the women's side.
The SRU women amassed 282 points compared to Lock Haven University's 144 and Clarion University's 108.
"It was a big win for both our men's and women's program," said Rock Head Coach John Papa. "It shows we are definitely headed in the right direction."
Nate Hardic, a junior from Turbotville, Pa., led the way for the men while Lacey Cochran, a junior from Freeport, Pa., paced the women.
Hardic, a javelin thrower, won his signature event with a toss of 211 feet, 10 inches.
That throw was good enough to earn a berth in the NCAA Division II national championships to be held at the end of May in Los Angeles.
"I hit it pretty hard…(the javelin) just took off like a rocket out of my hand," Hardic said. "I knew I had it in me."
Papa agreed.
"He's been struggling a bit this year," Papa said. "We knew he had it in him, it just had not come out yet."
As for Cochran, she came away Saturday with wins in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. Her time in the 400 is a conference-best time for the spring season.
Both juniors earned PSAC Athlete of the Week honors for their performances.
Cochran also anchors the conference-leading 4x100-meter relay team with Tina Beggs, Tiffany Tedesco and Jessica Sackin.
The tandem cruised to an easy win on Saturday with a time of 48.01, almost a second and a half faster than the second place finishers.
On the women's side, Cochran was not alone atop the podium, as a few of the Rock athletes won meets of their own.
Tedesco, a freshman from Plum, Pa., won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.59. She also had a second place finish to Cochran in the 200-meter dash.
The Rock had the top four times in the 200-meter dash, with the third- and fourth-place finishes going to Beggs and Rachael Knapp, respectively.
This situation is a microcosm of what has impressed Papa about his team this year, he said.
"Not only do we have front-line people, but we have back-up people," he said. "That is what I think our strength is, our depth quality."
Other winners for the ladies' included Raissa Weiss in the 5,000-meter run and Jennifer Hansen, who continued her dominance in the pole vault with a jump of 12 feet, 6 inches.
Weiss, a senior from North Huntingdon, Pa., was impressive considering the 5000-meter is not even her event.
She usually competes in the steeplechase, but explained that due to the strain it puts on an athlete's legs, it's an event that shouldn't be run every week.
So she just "jumped in" to the 5,000 with great results.
"I just went out there and ran," Weiss said. "More than anything, I had fun."
The Rock men were having a little fun of their own as Hardic wasn't the only athlete racking up points. Brad Mueller, a graduate student from Mars, Pa., continues to scorch the competition in the PSAC as he turned in a 100-meter dash time of 10.56.
Right behind Mueller though was the Rock's Jeren Debardeladen, as the SRU squad showed another example of their just how deep it is.
"They are (Nos.) 1-2 in the conference right now," Papa said.
Mueller also anchored the 4x100-meter relay team that captured second place behind Cal on Saturday. The relay team, which also includes Debardeladen, senior Nate Shadeck and junior Gabe Fortunato, lost to Cal by only one-tenth of a second, which was largely due to a missed handoff between the third and forth legs.
"That was the first time we have run it," Papa said. "We get the handoff situation squared away and I have a lot of confidence that we're going to run faster."
Joining Mueller in the winners' circle for the men's runners on Saturday were junior Jeff Weiss in the 1,500-meter run, Shadeck in the 400-meter hurdles and senior Matt Bluman in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. All are consistent contributors for the Rock.
Shadeck, a senior from Frenchville, Pa., is on top of the PSAC in the 400-meter hurdles.
"Coach (Dave) Labor has helped me a lot; he was (one of) the reasons I came here, to Slippery Rock," Shadeck said. "I attribute a lot to my coaching. The hurdles are such a technical event, any little thing helps."
The runners weren't the only impressive performers on the day for the men, as the Rock throwers also had quite a showing. Joining Hardic in the win column for the throwers was Adam Jones, a senior from Homer City, Pa.
Jones captured both the shot-put and hammer-throw titles for the Rock.
Other throwers who earned points for the Rock on the weekend were senior Brian Dell and sophomores Nick Alouise and Chris Warning, who finished second in the discus.
"This is one of the best (throwers groups) we have had in a couple years," Jones said.
"We have people in every event that can place. It's pretty exciting."
With such great showings from his men and women, Papa said that the one aspect they now need to concentrate on is consistency.
"When you compete at a high level, you have got to be able to do it every time out," he said.
Their next challenge comes this weekend as the majority of the team will be home again as the Rock hosts the SRU Invitational at N. Kerr Thompson. The event will be the team's last home meet of the year.
The SRU distance runners will be on the road as they travel to the Bucknell Invitational.
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