GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Trine University men's track & field team has jumped out to an early lead in day one of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Outdoor Championships. With six events finalized, the Thunder lead the team standings by 18 points.
Trine filled the podium in the shot put as four team members scoring points. Colten Zableckis was third at 14.38 meters (47' 2.25") while Kimball Hughes was fourth at 14.19 meters (46' 6.75"), Alexander Lewis fifth at 14.18 meters (46' 6.25") and Kyle Affer eighth at 13.43 meters (44' 0.75"). Zableckis also led the Thunder in the hammer throw with a personal best toss of 47.56 meters (156' 0.00"), good for third overall. Dillon Dennison tallied a fifth-place finish at 46.66 meters (153' 1.00") and AJ Henderson in seventh at 44.28 meters (145' 3.00").
The team went 3-4-5 in the pole vault with Nathan Leap the top finisher at 4.15 meters (13' 7.25") in third. A personal record height of 4.05 meters (13' 3.50") for Blake Lude allowed him to score a fourth-place podium position and Morgan Johnson was fifth at 4.05 meters (13' 3.50") as well. The long jump was the other field event contested for the men on Thursday, with Greysen Spohn netting a fourth-place finish (6.56 meters / 21' 6.25"). Zion Jackson was the second point scorer in the event in eighth at 6.36 meters (20' 10.50").
The two track events that concluded on Thursday were the 10,000-meter run and 3000-meter steeplechase. Joseph Packard (35:44.04) and Matthew Edison (35:55.78) went 4-5 in the longest event of the meet. Max Van Huis secured a fourth-place finishing position in the steeplechase with a time of 9:39.11, a new personal best. Austin Smith was eighth as well at 10:10.75.
The remainder of the events were preliminary races for the event finals on Friday. The 110-meter hurdles event featured four student-athletes for Trine make the finals. Jake Gladieux had the quickest preliminary time at 14.33 seconds while Spohn (14.71 seconds), Jackson (15.73 seconds) and Joshua Slimak (15.83 seconds) will also be competing for a conference championship. Gladieux was also the only member of the team to qualify for the 400-meter hurdle finals with a time of 55.50 seconds.
Philip Nemechek will race in the 800-meter run finals on Friday after running a time of 1:56.93 in the preliminary race. After having already scored points in the long jump, Spohn will also represent Trine in the 100-meter (10.88 seconds) and 200-meter dash events (22.45 seconds). Ryan Smith was the top finisher for the Thunder in the 400-meter run at 50.88 seconds.
Day two of the MIAA Outdoor Championships at Calvin University commences beginning at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 3.
