Track prepares for championship meet

In anticipation of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship meet, the Slippery Rock outdoor track team has three meets remaining before hosting the event at home.

The women have three events to compete in, while the men only have two remaining on the schedule.

Select women are currently competing at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia which started yesterday and will continue until tomorrow. Results were unavailable at the time of publication.

The two events remaining for both the men and women are the Ashland Alumni Invitational in Ashland, Ohio tomorrow and the SRU Qualifier on May 6 at Bill Lennox Track and N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

For the conference championships, the Green and White has many athletes that are contenders in their respective events.

Arguably, the Rock's top contender for an individual conference title is senior thrower and former PSAC champion, Chris Warning. Warning has five wins this season, two in the hammer throw and three in the discus, and has set three new school records. 

Sophomore pole vaulter Cameron Daugherty is another former conference champion who will contend for yet another. Daugherty has three individual wins so far in the regular season. 

Freshman pole vaulter Julia Cain, who has the top vault in the PSAC this year, is also a contender for the women's individual title.

Almost matching Daugherty's individual win total is Crystal Burnick and her two victories in distance events, the 1500-meter and 10,000-meter races.

Senior Brady Wert is another past champion who also has two victories in the heptathlon.

Sophomore Kevin Jewel, the returning PSAC champion, clenches the top seed in the 800-meter run.

Senior Terrace Draper is ranked second in the triple jump, as is Whitney Hendershot in the high jump.

Senior Kim Stitt is currently ranked first in the heptathlon and is second in the PSAC for the shot put.  Junior Lexi Arnold holds the top ranking in the javelin.

The PSAC championships begin on May 12 at Bill Lennox Track.