Slippery Rock men’s and women’s track and field teams wrap up their preseason and prepare for their first indoor meet of the year when they travel to Youngstown, Ohio for the YSU Icebreaker.
The Rock ended last season with second- and third-place finishes at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships for the men, and the women earned first-place finishes both days.
20 total athletes earned All-Region honors.
The 2025-26 team is led by head coach Bill Jordan. This will be his 21st year at SRU and fourth year as head coach. He is a three-time recipient of the PSAC Coaching Staff of the Year award, and has led the indoor team to titles in 2024 and 2025. This year, he is hoping for the same thing.
After spending most of the preseason conditioning and getting fit, Jordan is excited to get the season started.
“We’re going out there to compete at the highest level in the conference and hopefully win some titles,” he said.
With losing a handful of talented athletes last season, over 50 freshmen were recruited for the upcoming season.
“The entire freshmen squad, men’s and women’s side, is extremely strong,” Jordan said. “They’re going to have a great future for the program.”
Along with the freshmen who are looking for the spotlight, some returners are looking to build on their success from last season.
Men’s team
In distance events, John Juszynski and Eli Schreiber have tallied 10 PSAC Championship qualifiers. Schreiber claimed his two as a freshman.
Another former freshman making his name early is Benny Whitaker. During his first season with the White and Green, he qualified for the championship in both the 60-meter and 200-meter events.
Matthew Crow and Kadin Johnson, both seniors, also lead the way in sprints.
Last season, Crow won a conference title with a school-record-breaking time of 8.07 seconds in the 60-meter hurdle.
Having strong athletes in each section, the throwing events are where the men’s team shines.
“We are just stacked in that area,” Coach Jordan said.
Seaton Wozniak, Zach Gose, Joey Reed, Ryan Oleksy and Logan Parker, Jordan said, are “a force to be reckoned with.”
Another star athlete is junior Drew Layton. The pole vaulter is a three-time All-American, National Qualifier and All-PSAC, two-time PSAC champion, and four-time PSAC champion qualifier.
Not only does Slippery Rock have strong athletes in single events, but there is a strong showing on the multi-event side, too.
Sophomores Logan Anderson and Jacob Stucchio are both PSAC qualifiers. Anderson even earned PSAC Indoor Freshman of the Year.
Women’s team
Jennifer Cichra, Ruthie Hughes and Carissa Flynn lead the way in distance events for the women’s side.
Seniors Cichra and Hughes have racked up the accolades during their time at The Rock, including champion qualifiers and All-PSAC honors.
Flynn, as a freshman, just missed breaking the 11-minute plateau at the SPIRE Indoor Games last year when she finished 0.26 seconds over in her event.
Two other sophomores making their mark in Rock track and field are Jianna Long and Evabella Cox.
Long is a four-time All-PSAC and was named 2025’s PSAC Indoor Freshman of the Year.
Finishing up their senior year are Baylee Blauser, Allie Taylor, Becca Martin, Olivia Heckman and Isabella Bartoletti, all of whom have earned All-PSAC in their respective events.
With almost just as many upperclassmen as there are freshmen, they are all meant to be leaders of the team.
“We have a philosophy that every single kid on this team is a captain,” Jordan said. “And every single kid on this team is responsible for picking someone up and being a leader.”
Jordan has one hope for the team: to be the very best they can be.
With the first meet of the season this weekend, he sees it as just any other meet.
“By no means is it going to be our best performance, but they’re still going to be great performances,” he said. “Once we get through this meet, we’re going to be able to reassess and hopefully use this as a building block to step forward.”
Coach Jordan does have two long-term goals in mind for the teams: the indoor and outdoor PSAC Championship meets. While he is hoping to come home with trophies at those meets, he is excited to see what the team can do leading up to that.
“Watching them come together as a team over the last couple of months and put in the work that first semester that leads to success in the springtime has been a lot of fun to watch,” he said.
