ATLANTA - In the first outdoor meet of the season, the Trine University men’s and women’s track and field teams turned in 19 top-8 performances at the Emory Invitational. The Thunder took home two individual gold’s as sophomore Tyler Bourdo (Plainwell, Mich./Delton-Kellogg) won the 400m race while senior Dustin Stutzman (Topeka, Ind./Westview) took home the win in the shot put.
The men’s squad finished the meet in a tie for seventh with Emmanuel College with 62 points. Conference rival Hope won the meet with 98 points.
Bourdo, who qualified for the NCAA DIII Indoor Nationals in the 400m, won the race in a time of 49.08. Bourdo also turned in a sixth place finish in the 200m with a time of 22.31. He would also anchor the 4x400m relay joined by senior Dan Linder (DeWitt, Mich./Grand Ledge),freshman Luke Fimreite (McCordsville, Ind./Mount Vernon) and senior Nate Konzen (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Christian) to finish in third place in a time of 3:22.23. Freshman James Gregory (Warsaw, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) along with Konzen finished back-to-back in the 400m hurdles with third and fourth place finished with times of 58.28 and 58.43 respectively. Gregory was also a member of the 4x100m relay along with senior JaVontae Hence (Elkhart, Ind./Concord), sophomore Cory Peart (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Western) and freshman John Daniel (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) that placed seventh with a time of 44.70.
In the field events, Stutzman won the event by nearly four feet as he threw a distance of 15.93m (52' 3.25). In the hammer throw, sophomore Dakota Bagwell (Kokomo, Ind./Western) claimed bronze with a distance of 45.03m (147' 9"). Junior Lincoln Frey (Pettisville, Ohio/Pettisville) cleared a height of 4.21m (13' 9.75") in the pole vault to finish fourth. Hence and freshman Sam Gilly (St. Joseph, Ill./St. Joseph-Ogden) both turned in sixth place performances in the long jump and discus respectively. Hence leaped a distance of 6.48m (21' 3.25") while Gilly heaved a distance of 40.60m (133' 2"). The Thunder also had back-to-back finishes in the javelin. Junior Clayton Whistler (Rochester, Ind./Rochester) placed seventh with a throw of 44.24m (145' 2") while senior Seth Ware (Utica, Ohio/Utica) was just behind in eighth with a distance of 43.11m (141' 5").
On the women’s side, the team finished 13th is 29 points as host Emory won with 169 total points.
The top performance for the Thunder was turned in by senior Courtney Stahl (Lowell, Ind./Lowell Senior) in the hammer throw with a toss of 38.47m (126' 2"). In the pole vault, senior Kadie Kachmaryk (Standish, Mich./Au Gres-Sims) took home a fifth place finish clearing the bar at a height of 2.55m (8' 4.25").
In the running events, sophomore Trisha King (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) and senior Annalisa Krug (Battlecreek, Mich./Pennfield) turned in Trine’s top performances in the 800m and 1,500m. In the 800m, King would finish fourth while Krug was sixth with times of 2:23.02 and 2:26.64 respectively. The pair then took back-to-back finishes in the 1,500m as King was fourth finishing in a time of 4:54.49 while Krug was fifth with a time of 4:56.13.
The team will next compete at the Goshen College Maple Leaf Invitational on March 28 beginning at 2:00 p.m.