Oilers Join Country's Best at Valentine Invitational
The University of Findlay of Findlay men's and women's track and field teams traveled to Boston, Mass for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational held at Boston University on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14. The event featured some of the top collegiate track athletes from across the nation.
Women
The women's team was led by senior Kendra Averesch, who took home runner-up honors in the shot put. Averesch took home the silver with a NCAA automatic qualifying heave of 50'05.25. She also added a third place finish in the weight throw with a provisional qualifying toss of 57'01.00.
Along with Averesch's success, the Oilers also received standout performances from sophomore Erica King, sophomore Liz Streacker and senior Anna Knapski in the weight throw. King finished fourth with a provisional qualifying mark of 56'01.75, Streacker was seventh with a provisional throw of 54'05.50 and Knapski narrowly missed achieving provisional status with a heave of 53'04.25, which was good for ninth place.
Junior Lydia Guagenti pulled off a fourth place finish in the high jump with a provisional mark of 5'07.00 to round out the other top-10 finishes for Findlay.
The Oilers 4x400-meter relay team of senior Maud Sanmiquel, senior Kirsten Gaerke, freshman Laura Hernandez and sophomore Shelby Stump took 18th with a time of 3:53.68 and their other 4x400 team of senior Taylor Ackerman, Guagenti, senior Pam Showman and junior Samantha Grippe was 23rd at 3:56.90.
Showman also added a 22nd place finish in the 60-meter hurdles after crossing the finish line in 9.03.
Men
The Oilers men's team entered the meet ranked #1 in NCAA Division II.
Senior Jacob Hayes turned in a great performance in the mile run where he met the NCAA provisional for the event with his blistering time of 4:11.27, which earned 50th place out of more than 300 competitors. That time sets a new school record in the event, breaking the record set last season by Justin Eilerman.
Freshman Sergi Torres turned in a great performance in the 400 meter dash where he met the provisional in the event with his time of 47.42. That time earned him first place in a competition that feature 194 athletes. Also in the event was sophomore Maliik Briggs. Briggs also met the provisional mark with his 19th place finish in a time of 48.38. Sophomore Derek Collins finished in a time of 49.91 which placed him in 63rd.
Briggs, Torres, Collins, and senior Jacob Miller teamed up for the 4x400 and finished in 12th place with a provisional time of 3:16.85.
Another provisional for the Oilers came in the long jump where sophomore Alexander Zolotoglavyy took second place with his distance of 24'03.00". Leaping to a distance of 23'00.75" was junior Michael Bruce, good enough for seventh place. Senior Demorrio Leggett earned himself a 10th place finish with a distance 22'04.50".
In the shot put, senior Taylor Miller met the provisional with his toss of 57'02.25" which was good enough for second place. Senior Mathieu Marcoccia finished close behind with a third place finish, throw a distance of 55'06.50", a provisional distance. In sixth place was senior Justin Welch with a provisional toss of 54'09.25". Another provisional was met by sophomore Ben Hahler who took ninth place with a throw of 53'00.25". The final Oiler in the top 20 of 60+ competitors was senior Brian Jennings who took 13th with a throw of 50'09.25".
The weight throw featured more success for Findlay as Welch took home the championship over 62 other athletes. His distance of 72'01.75" is good enough for an automatic bid to the national championship. Meeting the provisional distance for this event was Miller, who took seventh with a distance of 59'00.25".
Another first place finish came from junior Michael Bruce in the triple jump where his distance of 49'05.75" took the championship and earned a provisional. Also meeting a provisional was senior Demorrio Leggett who took fourth in the event with a distance of 48'07.50".