ALBION, Mich. - The Trine track and field teams started their conference season with the men finishing fifth with 603 points at the MIAA Jamboree, while the women came in sixth with 391 points. Freshman Trisha King (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) picked up the Thunders lone gold medal in the 400m.
Hosted by Albion College, Hope swept the day winning the men’s title with a score of 898 and the women’s with a team score of 910.5.
Trine’s 4x400m relay turned in the top performance of the day for the men’s squad as the team of juniors Dan Linder (DeWitt, Mich./Grand Ledge) and Nate Konzen (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Christian) along with freshmen Randy Shaffer (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) and Tyler Bourdo (Plainwell, Mich./Delton Kellogg) finished second in a time of 3:22.62.
Bourdo also picked up the bronze in both the 200m and 400m finishing in times of 22.79 and 48.79 respectively. Bourdo’s 400m time was just .30 off the school record. In the 100m dash, senior Brock Goodman (Goshen, Ind./Goshen) finished fifth in a time of 11.50. Trine’s other top performance in the running events came from freshman Kyler Koets (DeWitt, Mich./Dewitt) who placed seventh in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.94.
Trine put up several top five performances in the field events with freshman Nate Grigsby (Royal Center, Ind./Pioneer) leading the way with a runner-up finish in the long jump with a leap of 6.31m. Also in the long jump, senior Andrew Stein (Lindenhurt, Ill./Lakes Community) finished fifth with a distance of 6.18m. In the triple jump, the Thunder took home third and fourth place as freshman Ryan Townsend (McFarland, Wis./Monona Grove) and Stein completed their day with jumps of 12.70m and 12.65m respectively.
In the pole vault, sophomores Lincoln Frey (Pettisville, Ohio/Pettisville) and Nicholas Muir (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) finished in a tie for fourth clearing a height of 3.97m. Muir also finished fifth in the high jump with a height of 1.85m
In the throwing events, the Thunder took home three of the top six finishes in the hammer behind junior Dustin Stutzman (Topeka, Ind./Westview), senior Jason Casteel (Wakarusa, Ind./Northwood) and freshman Dakota Bagwell (Kokomo, Ind./Western). Stutzman finished third with a throw of 42.60m, Casteel was fourth with a 42.58m toss and Bagwell came in sixth with a distance of 38.71m.
For the women, King took home the victory in the 400m, finishing a full half second ahead of the rest of the field, in a time of 58.96 to set a new school record. King also finished seventh in the 200m with a time of 27.03. The 4x400m was the top finish of Trine’s relay teams as the quartet of King along with juniors Annalisa Krug (Battle Creek, Mich./Pennfield) and Sannie Anderson (Hesperia, Mich./Hesperia) and fellow freshman Allison Everetts (Kokomo, Ind./Western) earned the bronze in a time of 4:09.42, breaking their own school record they set earlier in the season.
In the field events for the Lady Thunder, junior Jamie Meegan (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) led the way with a second place finish in the discus with a toss of 38.55m. Meegan also finished sixth in the hammer with a distance of 36.83m as teammate freshman Erika Rockwell (Coldwater, Mich./Coldwater) finished just behind in seventh with a distance of 36.63m. Meegan earned another top finish in the javelin with throw of 28.73m good enough to finish seventh. Rockwell also turned in a top five finish in the shot put, placing fifth with a throw of 11.19m.
Trine will travel to the Baldwin-Wallace Invitational to compete on April 21 beginning at 10:00 a.m.
