LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY TRACK AND FIELD PAGE
It was a very eventful Day 2 for Ashland University's men's (No. 3 in NCAA Division II) and women's (No. 14) indoor track and field teams on Saturday (Jan. 27) at the Penn Nationals and Findlay Classic & Elite Throws Competition.
At State College, the men's 4x400-meter relay team of freshmen Channing Phillips and Brenden Archer, sophomore Paul Murray and junior Myles Pringle earned an improved nationals provisional time of 3:13.13. That moves the quartet into the No. 2 spot in the country.
Pringle also was second in the men's 400 dash in 46.42 seconds, which is the top mark in D-II in 2017-18 - and the eighth-fasted time in the history of the event indoors in D-II. Pringle has the No. 7-best time of 46.39 at the 2017 indoor nationals.
Sophomore Alex Hill became the second Eagle (Pringle in the 400 dash and the high jump) to earn automatic entry into 2018 NCAA Division II indoor nationals, March 9-10 at Pittsburg State, finishing third at Findlay in the men's weight throw elite class at 21.42 meters/70-feet-3½. Hill's mark is the best in the country so far in 2017-18.
Also in the men's weight throw elite, sophomore Nick Zak took sixth and improved on his previous provisional distance with a top mark of 19.65 meters/64-feet-5¾.
The Findlay meet also saw freshman David Amstutz improve on his previous provisional distance in the men's shot put, as his event-winning heave of 16.85 meters/55-feet-3½ was a near-meter improvement. The men's shot put elite category saw both senior Elijah Talk (fourth, 17.69 meters/58-feet-0½) and sophomore Jake Glass (seventh, 17.03 meters/55-feet-10½) improve their provisional standings.
In the women's weight throw, freshman Gianna DiPippo took third and with an improved provisional distance of 17.79 meters/58-feet-4½.
Winning events on Saturday were junior Jim Toth in the men's weight throw (18.57 meters/60-feet-11¼), senior Tyler Lance in the men's 3,000 run (8:52.18), freshman Jake Hall in the men's mile run (4:21.66) and the men's 4x4 relay team of freshman T.J. Elliott, senior William Robinson, freshman Travis Moore and sophomore Brad Studenmund (3:29.86).
Runner-up finishes were turned in by junior Jacob Bon in the men's long jump (6.40 meters/21-feet-0), sophomore Kyle D'Ambrosio in the men's triple jump (12.86 meters/52-feet-2¼), freshman Ian Johnson in the men's mile run (4:22.02), junior Emily Schumaker in the women's 3,000 run (11:01.36) and junior Tiffany Pryce in the women's 800 run (2:20.07).
Taking thirds were sophomore Ellie Jindra in the women's high jump (1.65 meters/5-feet-5), junior Brandon Sicurella in the men's weight throw (17.61 meters/57-feet-9½), freshman Garrick Manning in the men's heptathlon (4,140 points) and junior Tyler Sievert in the men's 800 run (2:00.05).
Ashland's men and women will begin the month of February on Friday (Feb. 2) and Saturday (Feb. 3) at the Akron Blue/Gold.
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