Sophomore pole-vaulter wins at Youngstown State

As the temperature outside begins to cool down with winter approaching, Slippery Rock's men's and women's indoor track teams are starting to heat things up.

The season opener at Youngstown State University on Dec. 2 set high hopes for the rest of the season.

The meet brought together Slippery Rock University, Youngstown State, John Carroll, Buffalo State and Duquesne.

Keeping the tradition going, the Rock's pole-vaulters had excellent performances.

For the women's team, three vaulters hit NCAA provisional qualifying marks, sweeping the top three places in the event. Sophomore Julia Cain won the event with a vault of 3.55 meters while junior Angela Schroder and senior Kelly Fischer placed second and third, both reaching marks of 3.50.

Cain is very impressed with the team's performance at their first meet.

"Going into the meet, it was hard to gauge where the team would be at," Cain said. "We didn't expect to win first, second and third in the women's pole vault. Around 15 girls qualified for the PSAC championship meet at our first competition of the season."

Freshman Janine Powis captured the top spot in the mile in her first collegiate track and field race (5:14.02). Senior Caitlin Hancox (5:21.07) and sophomore Stephanie Turak (5:26.29) also qualified for the PSAC meet.

Senior Kara Styles won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:35.57. Freshman Angie Bagwell placed second with a time of 10:46.64.

Freshman Katelyn Wetzel placed fourth in the 200-meter dash and ran a qualifying time of 26.26 seconds. Sophomore Christina Ransom also ran a PSAC qualifying time of 8.30 seconds in the 60-meter dash.

Senior Cassie Carrow, senior Sandy Kakraba, and freshman Brittany Christiansen all posted qualifying throws in the weight throw. Christiansen and Kakraba also threw PSAC qualifying standards in the shot put. Kakraba also qualified in the triple jump (10.79m) to end her banner night.

Also meeting an NCAA qualify mark, was junior pole-vaulter, Cameron Daugherty, clearing 4.90 meters,  and carrying on his momentum from the previous season. Junior Ryan Camody and freshman Andrew Lovano placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

The 4x400m relay team, juniors Ethan Geisler and Mason McLaughlin, sophomore Trevor Foley, and senior Vanere Maynard won their first race of a season for the Green and White with a time of 3:20.52.

Geisler said his 4x4 team's excellence comes from inner-team competition for positions on the relay team.

"The improvement on the 4x4 is mainly from the competition we have within the team," Geisler said. "Practices have been very competitive and that has also helped us to improve from last year. We have a lot of talent on the team, the competition helps everyone."

Junior Kevin Jewel claimed the victory in the 800-meter running a PSAC-qualifying time of 1:55.02.

Sophomore Morgan Elliott cruised to a victory in the 5,000-meter run (15:23.91), also qualifying for the regional meet.

Senior DJ Chisom ran two PSAC qualifying times in the 60-yard dash (7.00) and the 200-meter dash (22.85).

Freshman Monte Chapman had a great break-out performance, placing 11th in the 400-meter dash and running a qualifying time of 51.13.

This weekend both teams will compete at the Kent State Golden Flash Gala. The meet will bring a lot of competition for Slippery Rock.

Daugherty said this weekend will give SRU a lot of big-school competition.

"Kent State is a huge invitational with a lot of Division I teams, with schools like Ohio State, Kent State, Pitt and the Ashland throwers," Daugherty said. "There is going to be a lot of competition in nearly every event."

After the Kent State meet and finals week, the athletes will be on break until the spring semester begins on Jan. 23, 2012. Being at home and away from the schools facilities can be problematic for many sports teams. In order to be ready to excel during the rest of the season in the spring semester, everyone must continue to train during the winter break.