ANGOLA, Ind. – For the fourth consecutive season, the Trine University men's track and field team won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Thunder had two event victories, but were consistent throughout the afternoon to tally 152.5 points. Albion College were the runners up with 116.5 points.
Beginning with sprint events, William Thonn was fourth in the 60-meter dash at 7.07 seconds. His preliminary time was even faster at 7.02 seconds. Jordan Grindle (7.08 seconds) and Maxwell Harris (7.11 seconds) were fifth and seventh in the conference. The top finisher in the 200-meter dash was Jake Gladieux with a third-place time of 22.52 seconds. Thonn was sixth at 22.99 seconds and Ben Williams seventh at 23.09 seconds.
Gladieux led a 1-2 sweep for Trine in the 60-meter hurdle event. The senior went 8.13 seconds in the event finals to claim the victory. Greysen Spohn was second at 8.20 seconds and Evan Selby fourth at 8.49 seconds. A miscue in the 4x400-meter relay saw the team of Gladieux, Philip Nemechek, Selby and Tyler Hartleroad finish seventh (3:48.32). The distance medley relay team consisting of Lucas Tutrow, Blane Johnson, Samuel Slough and Joshua Maier placed third overall at 10:54.64.
Middle distance events included sixth-place finishes by Hartleroad (1:59.07) in the 800-meter run and Holden Martin (4:29.47) in the mile run. Nemechek had a time of 2:00.66 in the 800 to score as well for the Thunder in eighth. Zach Brickler was the leading scorer in the 3000-meter run in fifth (9:04.71), while Joseph Packard was just behind in seventh (9:06.03). Packard led Trine in the 5000-meter run in second (15:00.75) with Ryan Hoopingarner in third (15:00.78) and Matthew Edison seventh (15:33.61).
Trine's second event win of the day came in the long jump when Ethan Spahr secured a score of 6.65 meters (21' 10.00"). Williams tied for fourth in the event at 6.11 meters (20' 0.50"). The high jump saw Spohn tie his own personal best and school record mark of 1.98 meters (6' 6.00") to place second overall. Justin Ackerman (1.92 meters / 6' 3.50") and Spahr (1.86 meters / 6' 1.25") were fourth and fifth in the high jump. Spahr was also a fourth-place finisher in the triple jump (12.76 meters / 41' 10.50") and Eirik Eggen eighth (11.76 meters / 38' 7.00").
The Thunder had four members of the team in the event finals in the shot put and weight throw events. Theodore Samra was second in the shot put at 15.76 meters (51' 8.50") to lead the way. Alexander Lewis was third (14.90 meters / 48' 10.75"), Kimball Hughes sixth (14.16 meters / 46' 5.50") and Noah Chew seventh (14.07 meters / 46' 2.00"). In the weight throw, Jacob Barkey had the farthest throw for Trine at 17.06 meters (55' 1.75"), good for third. Samra was fourth (16.80 meters / 55' 1.50"), Alexander Lewis sixth (15.26 meters / 50' 0.75") and Dillon Dennison ninth (14.42 meters / 47' 3.75").
The NCAA DIII Indoor Track and Field Championships take place on March 10-11 at the Cross Plex in Birmingham, Alabama. A press release from www.NCAA.com will be unveiled on Sunday, March 5 at 7 p.m. with the list of participating teams and student-athletes.
