LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY TRACK AND FIELD PAGE
Competing for the first time in 12 days, Ashland University's nationally-ranked men's (third) and women's (25th) indoor track and field teams racked up an impressive number of new and improved provisional nationals marks on Friday (Jan. 19) at the Youngstown State College Invitational.
The event with the most movement was the men's weight throw, where four Eagles improved upon previous provisional distances. Sophomore Alex Hill won the event, moving closer to an automatic mark with a top heave of 21.00 meters/68-feet-10¾. Following were freshman Brent Fairbanks in third (20.71 meters/67-feet-11½), sophomore Nick Zak in fourth (19.52 meters/64-feet-0½) and junior Brandon Sicurella in fifth (18.61 meters/61-feet-0¾).
Ashland's men's shot putters were nearly as numerous in their provisional marks. Sophomore Jake Glass finished third at 16.57 meters/54-feet-4½, and Zak was fourth at 16.50 meters/54-feet-1¾, while freshman David Amstutz took seventh for a new provisional distance of 16.01 meters/52-feet-6½.
In the men's 4x400-meter relay, the quartet of freshmen Channing Phillips and Brenden Archer, sophomore Paul Murray and junior Myles Pringle took second in 3:14.22 – a new provisional for the group and an improvement over another Eagle foursome's earlier provisional.
Pringle won the men's 200 dash in 21.46 seconds, giving him a new provisional time. He already has automatically qualified for 2018 NCAA Division II indoor nationals, March 9-10 at Pittsburg State, in the 400 dash and high jump, while provisionally qualifying in both the 200 dash and 4x4.
Finally, in the women's weight throw, freshman Gianna DiPippo was fifth with an improved provisional distance of 17.46 meters/57-feet-3½.
Earning individual victories on Friday were Pringle in the seeded men's high jump (2.06 meters), junior Natalie Helenthal in the women's weight throw (18.56 meters/60-feet-10¾) and senior Tyler Lance in the men's 5,000 run (15:16.26). Taking seconds were sophomore Kyle Shively in the men's 5,000 run (15:30.47) and Pringle in the men's 60 dash (6.92 seconds).
Third-place finishes were turned in by Phillips in the men's 400 dash (48.72 seconds), freshman Trevor Bassitt in the men's 60 hurdles (8.13 seconds), sophomore Ellie Jindra in the seeded women's high jump (1.66 meters/5-feet-5¼) and freshman Garrick Manning in the seeded men's pole vault (4.47 meters/14-feet-8).
UP NEXT: Jan. 26-27 at the Findlay Elite and Penn Nationals.
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