ANGOLA, Ind.-- The Trine men's track and field team won the Trine Indoor Championships, held Saturday in Keith E. Busse/Steel Dynamics Athletic Recreation Center.
Efforts by Thunder performers earned the team 177.5 points in the event to top second-place Calvin by 4.5 points. A school-record and four first-place finishes highlighted the effort. The Trine Indoor Championships served as an unofficial championship featuring MIAA schools that sponsor indoor track and field. The MIAA will begin to officially sponsor the sport next winter.
One of Trine's most impressive performances on the day came in the Weight Throw, with Andrew Bunting (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick), Sam Gilly (St. Joseph, Ill./St. Joseph-Ogden) and Dakota Bagwell (Kokomo, Ind./Western) taking home the top three spots. Bunting won the event with a throw of 54 feet, 8.75 inches, while Gilly and Bagwell each notched personal-best marks.
Patrick Richardville (Leo, Ind./Leo) set a new school-record in the 60 M Dash with a time of 7.01. He finished second by .01 seconds in the closest finish of any race on the day. Richardville also ran a PR 22.92 in the 200 M to place second.
The 4 x 400 Relay team, made up of Zach Markley (Winamac, Ind./Winamac), Luke Fimreite (McCordsville, Ind./Mount Vernon), Jacob Leopold (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf) and Tyler Bourdo (Plainwell, Mich./Delton-Kellogg) notched another first-place finish. Their time of 3:19.70 puts the team in solid contention for a spot in the National Championships.
Bourdo added a pair of wins in the 200 M and 400 M. Bourdo's 49.09 second performance in the 400 M places the senior sixth in the nation at the time of writing.
Leopold added a second-place finish in the 800 M. Markley finished third in the 400 M, while Fimreite notched a fifth-place finish in the 400 M.
John Daniel (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) contributed in both field and track events, highlighted by a second-place Pole Vault of 14 feet, 5.25 inches. He added a fourth-place finish in the 60 M.
Courtney Mitchell (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Leurs) placed second in the Shot Put, while James Gregory (Warsaw, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) finished second in the 60 Hurdles.
Robert Duke (Greentown, Ind./Eastern), Christian Hill (Granger, Ind./Penn), Ricardo Castillo (Goshen, Ind./Goshen) and Mike Becker (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) combined for a second-place finish in the Distance Medley Relay. Duke added a fifth-place performance in the Mile Run.
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The Trine Indoor Championships concludes the indoor season for most Thunder performers. Several Thunder student-athletes could to solidify qualifying performances for the National Championships by competing last-chance meets next weekend, while others have already locked-up berths.
An announcement on Trine performers traveling to the NCAA Division III National Championships will be made Monday, Mar. 9.
