Penn State Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup
Appalachian State (men)
State College, Penn.- The Appalachian men’s track and field squad finished the second day of action at the Penn State Sykes Sabock Challenge on a strong foot. The Apps took home eighth place out of 11 teams, with Missouri finishing first.
ASU excelled in numerous events throughout the day, but the most impressive performance came from senior Brian Deal in the 3000m run. Deal, the 2007 SoCon cross country champion, finished second in the event with a time of 8:24. His finish was good enough to move him into third on Appalachian’s all-time list. Teammates Phil Mitchell, Asmeron Desta and Alec Meyer also had strong performances, with Mitchell and Desta grabbing the 13 and 14 spots and Meyer placing 17.
In the one mile run, sophomore Josh Houser also posted a strong performance, as he notched a sixth place finish, with a time of 4:10, good enough to move him into fourth on ASU’s all-time list in the event. Houser improved his previous mile time by a little over two seconds.
Four Mountaineers competed in the 400 meter dash, with freshman Nick Zeller leading the way, placing 18 with a time of 50.35. Not too far behind was Carlos Carter finishing 23 and Daniel Neal coming in the 30th spot, with Sean Thompson rounding things out, finishing 32.
Junior Mark Sturgis had a solid finish in the 200 meter dash, as he came in ninth with a time of 22.36.
Sturgis, along with Joel Gaddy and Ricky Harris also competed in the triple jump. Gaddy led the trio, jumping 48-00.75, while Sturgis placed sixth with a jump of 47-6.50 and Harris came in 11, leaping 45-7.00.
In the pole vault, senior Barron Shell finished seventh, vaulting 14-7.25, while teammates Justin Hunnicutt, Mike Wilson and Zach Smith grabbed the 15, 16 and 18 place spots.
Rounding out the meet, Wes Kiser and Grant Haun took part in the shot put, with Kiser finishing 17 with a throw of 47-5.25 and Haun placing 19.
Appalachian will return to action on Friday February 8, as the Mountaineers host their lone home meet of the season, the Appalachian Limited Open.
UNC Invitational
UNCG (men)
CHAPEL HILL, NC ? Josh Wyatt and Xavier Rutz finished in sixth and tenth place in the men’s 5000 meter race to lead the UNC Greensboro track team at the Carolina Classic on Friday night.
Wyatt was UNCG’s top finisher on the afternoon and took sixth place with a time of 15:19.03 which sets a new personal record for the Hope Mills, NC native. Rutz finished in 10th place with a time of 15:26.75 while Justin Ruppe took home 22nd place with a time of 16:25.27.
MENS RESULTS: 5000M: 6. Josh Wyatt 15:19.03, 10. Xavier Rutz, 15:26.75, 22. Justin Ruppe, 16:28.47
Freshman Andrew Clyne was UNCG’s top finisher on the day as the UNC Greensboro track team concluded action at the Carolina Classic on Saturday.
The Spartans recorded three top 20 finishes on the day in their second indoor meet of the season, led by Clyne’s seventh place finish in the mile.
The Washingtonville, NY native posted a 4:20.89 finishing eight seconds behind event winner Johnny Shuping.
Anthony Savoia took 18th place in the 3000 meter run with a time of 8:52.09 while Terry Wyatt and Taylor Hurst finished in 22 and 23rd place in the 800 meters with times of 1:59.17 and 1:59.21, respectfully.
MENS RESULTS: MILE: 7. Andrew Clyne, 4:20.89, 21. Ryan Rodd, 4:26.98, 42. Lincoln Bennett 4:42.92; 800M: 22. Terry Wyatt, 1:59.17, Taylor Hurst, 1:59.21; 3000M: 18. Anthony Savoia, 8:52.09, 30. Bobby Belcher, 9:24.65, 40. Ryan Solomon, 9:58.47; LONG JUMP: Ramon Jobson-Brown, Fouled
Davidson (men)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Coming off a record-setting performance, junior Will Funderburg once again broke his own record with the winning throw in the shot put, as the Wildcat men concluded action at the Carolina Classic on the campus of the University of North Carolina Saturday afternoon.
Funderburg won the shot put event with a new school-record throw of 15.43 meters. At the Patriot Games last weekend, Funderburg bested the field with a throw of 15.31 meters, bettering his own record throw of 14.44 meters from a season ago.
Funderburg also finished sixth in the weight throw with a mark of 13.45 meters.
Reigning SoCon Runner of the Week, junior Alex Hoyt turned in another strong performance, finishing eighth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:44.63. At the Patriot Games, Hoyt placed sixth in the 1,000 meters with a Davidson Top-10 and team-best time of 2:34.06 and anchored the Wildcats' winning distance medley relay with a split time of 4:25.07 to nab the weekly honors.
A pair of Wildcat runners turned in strong performances in the 5,000 meters. Sophomore Tom Divinnie finished 11th with a time of 15:33.50, and senior Sam Morris finished 14th in 15:42.53.
The Wildcats return to action on Feb. 15 at the Tiger Invitational in Clemson, S.C.
Furman (men)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? The Furman indoor track teams competed at the UNC Invitational this weekend, earning six top-ten finishes.
For the men, Furman’s distance medley team finished ninth with a time of 10:38.89. Junior Patrick Morgan turned in another solid performance with a time of 8:32.67 and a fifth place finish in the 3000 meter run.
The Paladin track teams will compete again on Feb. 16 at the Tiger Invitational, hosted by Clemson University.
Akron Open
Western Carolina
On the men’s side, junior Manteo Mitchell took top honors in the 400-meter dash in a time of 48.04, the second-fastest time for a WCU runner in the past two years, just missing his own top time of 47.98, ran at this event last season.
The men’s team finished the meet with a total of 6 podium finishes, including Dominique Young’s third-place in the 200-meter dash. His time of 21.49 was a mere .03 seconds off the school record in the event, set back in 1988. He was joined in the top-five by Mitchell, who added to his victory in the 400-meter dash with a fifth-place finish in the 200.
Young and teammate Zeb Johnson then battled for the top spot in the men’s 60-meter dash, and event in which Western had three of the top eight finishers. Johnson took home runner-up honors in the event with a time of 6.81 seconds, with Young on his tail in third at 6.85 seconds. Fellow Catamount Christian Bethune rounded out the WCU contingent in the top-ten with an eighth-place mark of 7.08 seconds.
Daniel Joseph also found the podium for the Catamounts, finishing in second place in the triple jump, with a season-best mark of 18.83 meters. Joseph then cracked the top ten in the men’s high jump, tying teammate Rashad Herndon for sixth place with a high mark of 1.90 meters.
University of Kentucky Invitational
Chattanooga (men)
LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Chattanoga senior distance runner Michael Mentz (Bloemfontein, South Africa) placed sixth in the men’s 3000 meter run Saturday at the annual Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational hosted by the University of Kentucky.
Mentz was just one of seven athletes who ran a personal best in their respective events Saturday at the E.J. Nutter Fieldhouse. Mentz beat out his previous PR by nearly 10 seconds at 8:23.60, just nine seconds off the pace set by top finisher Festus Kigen of Texas Christian University. Senior Tim Clark (Indianapolis, Ind.) also set a personal best with a 14th place finish in the event at 8:36.34.
Freshman Matt Baltimore (Cleveland, Tenn.) ran a 4:21.80 in his first indoor season in the mile and sophomore Blake Ketron (Kingsport, Tenn.) knocked 1.5 seconds off his PR in the mile finishing five places in back of Baltimore. In the men’s 800 meter run, sophomore Stephen George (Kingsport, Tenn.) also set a new PR with a time of 1:57.83.
The Mocs will return to action at the Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Invitational on Feb. 9 at the Murphy Center on the MTSU campus.
Men’s Mile Run
29. Matt Baltimore 4:21.80 (freshman)
34. Blake Ketron
Men’s 800 Meter Run
25. Stephen George 1:57.83 (PR: 1:59.57)
28. Andy Highlander
Men’s 3000 Meter Run
6. Michael Mentz 8:23.60 (PR: 8:33.32)
14. Tim Clark 8:36.34 (PR: 8:47.73)
28. Kevin Huwe 8:45.80 (PR: 8:48.52)
33. David Moore 8:48.87
Thomson Invitational
The Citadel (men)
Newark, Del. ? The Citadel Track and Field recorded a banner day as the men’s team finished fifth. The men defeated nationally-recognized programs in Maryland and Villanova.
Junior Zach Johnson set a personal record for the second consecutive week as the James Island, S.C. native ran 2:36.13 to finish second in the 1,000m run. Johnson’s time enters the top-10 charts at The Citadel as he finished only six seconds away from the school record mark of 2:30.4, set by Layne Anderson on Jan. 24, 1987 in Blacksburg, Va. Anderson is currently an assistant track and field coach at the University of Iowa.
The Citadel ran an “A” and “B” team in the men’s 4x800m relay race, taking advantage of a wealth of talent in the middle distance and distance areas. The “A” team of senior Matt Haight, junior Zach Harten, junior Zach Johnson and sophomore Brendan Kight ran 8:13.28 to finish fourth while the all-freshman team of Joseph Tkach, Chris Fallis, Ellis Anderson and Maurice Washington ran 8:27.84 to place sixth.
The men’s team placed two sprinters in the finals of the 60m hurdles as both redshirt junior Jamel Brown (8.81) and freshman Brian Baize (9.31) both advanced to the finals. Brown and Baize, both school record holders, finished third and seventh, respectively, as Brown ran 8.67 while Baize ran 9.36.
Redshirt sophomore Alex Anderson finished fourth in the 5k with a time of 15:46.41 while freshman Zach Yereb placed seventh, running 17:01.85. On the women’s side of the 5k, junior Erin Ritter finished sixth with a time of 20:31.59.
A pair of freshmen on the men’s side racked up 12 points in the jumps, led by James Harris. Harris set a personal record in the high jump as he marked 6’ 4” to finish fourth. Meanwhile, Justin Webb placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 40’ 11.5” while also placing seventh in the long jump with a mark of 20’ 7.25”.
Freshman Brian Baize continued the freshman scoring streak as he placed fifth in the pole vault with a mark of 13’ 9.25”.
The Citadel track and field returns to action on Feb. 16 as the Bulldogs head to Clemson, S.C. for their final meet prior to the 2008 Southern Conference Indoor Championships. For complete coverage of Bulldog Track and Field, visit the official home of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.