Slippery Rock’s indoor track and field teams both finished in second place at the 2012 PSAC Championships at Edinboro University last weekend.
The women’s team was in first place at the end of Saturday with 53.50 points with titles claimed in the pole vault and pentathlon.
In the pole vault, junior Angela Schroeder took first clearing 3.60 meters. Sophomore Julia Cain and senior Kelly Fischer both cleared 3.45 meters to tie for third place.
Senior Kim Stitt totaled 3,435 points to win the pentathlon. Stitt also participated in the long jump, placing seventh with a mark of 5.21 meters.
In the weight throw, SRU had three top-10 performances. Freshman Brittany Christiansen placed fifth hitting a mark of 14.93, followed by senior Sandy Kakraba in sixth with a throw of 14.72 meters. Senior Cassie Carrow came in eighth place at 13.64 meters.
Junior Stephanie Case ran a time of 17:39.02 in the 5,000-meter run resulting in a third-place finish.
The Rock’s distance medley relay team of junior Kara Styles, senior Caitlin Hancox, senior Jayme Stanek and freshman Janine Powis placed second with a time of 12:10.45.
The men’s team was in third place at the end of day one with 21 points.
Junior Cameron Daugherty led the Rock in the pole vault clearing 4.61 meters finishing in second place. Senior Ryan Camody and sophomore David Caldwell both cleared 4.46 meters to tie for third place.
SRU’s distance medley relay team of junior Eric Geddis, freshman Tyler Melius, sophomore Michael Beegle and sophomore Nathaniel Helfferich placed sixth with a time of 10:30.46.
Sophomore Travis Arrigoni placed seventh in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:17.25. Junior Alex Koksal ran a time of 15:33.75 to place 10th in the event.
Junior throwers Joseph Kelly and Kyle Toms earned top-10 finishes in the weight throw. Kelly threw for 15.75 meters and placed sixth while Toms threw for 15.69 meters to come in seventh.
Day two had the potential for Slippery Rock to bring home two championships.
The women’s team was led by another record-breaking performance from Powis. Powis ran a time of 4:59.63 to place second and break the former record of 5:01.25 set by Gretchen Petcher in 1993.
Freshman Katelyn Wetzel finished seventh in the 60-meter dash at 7.996 seconds and fifth in the 200-meter dash at 25.83 seconds.
In the shot put, Kakraba placed third with a throw of 12.70 meters and Stitt threw for 12.70 meters to place fifth.
Stitt also participated in the triple jump and hit a mark of 10.99 meters to finish seventh.
Senior Caitlin Hancox ran a time of 2:20.55 to place sixth in the 800-meter run.
Hancox said that she was pleased with the overall performance of the team and to come in second to a school like Shippensburg is a great achievement.
“I think the team did an amazing job,” Hancox said. “We always seem to come together at PSAC’s and give it everything we got. Shippensburg is a great team and a very large team, so to come in second to them is a great accomplishment.”
The men’s team started off day two with a victory from senior Dan Hedglin in the 60-meter hurdles. Hedglin clocked a time of 8.31 seconds to win his first individual championship. Senior Joe Spears placed sixth in the event with a time of 8.691 seconds and junior Ethan Geisler took seventh at 8.697 seconds.
“It was an overwhelming experience winning the hurdles at the PSACs and I was very thankful for all the love and support I got from my teammates. The whole team was there for each other at the meet, I could not be more proud of my fellow teammates for their performance,” Hedglin said.
Junior DJ Chisom ran a time of 6.93 seconds in the 60-meter dash to finish in second place.
SRU had three athletes in the top six of the heptathlon. Sophomore Hans Lubich came in second with 4,700 points followed by sophomore Derick Fiedler with 4,601 points in fifth place and junior Andrew Greenslade in sixth with 4,487 points.
In the shot put, Toms placed second with a throw of 15.99 meters. Freshman Trevor Miller threw for 14.52 meters to come in seventh.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Geisler, freshman Hunter Williams, junior Kevin Jewel and sophomore Trevor Foley took fourth place with a time of 3:20.00.
The second place finish was the best PSAC performance by the men’s indoor track and field team in the PSAC Championship since 2008. To the women’s team, it was their third consecutive second-place finish.
Vaulters Cain and Daugherty will prepare to represent Slippery Rock at the NCAA Division II National Championships March 11-12 at Minnesota State-Mankato University.
As a team, Slippery Rock will turn its attention towards the start of their outdoor track and field season beginning with the Coastal Carolina Invitational March 9-10.
