OLIVET, Mich.-- The Trine men's track and field team took third place at MIAA Field Day, which concluded Friday.
Thunder performers combined to earn the team 140.5 points in the conference's outdoor championship event. Sam Gilly (St. Joseph, Ill. / St. Joseph Ogden) accounted for Trine's lone first-place performance as he won the hammer throw. The senior unleashed a toss of 172 feet, 2 inches in the event. He added a second-place finish in the discus throw today to follow up his fourth-place performance in the shot put Thursday.
Gilly's performance led three Thunder efforts in the top eight in the hammer throw. Nick Gerber (Goshen, Ind. / Goshen) placed fifth, while Mitch Martin (Monroe, Mich. / Monroe) placed seventh. Martin (fourth) and Gerber (seventh) also placed in the top eight of the discus throw alongside Jessie Dowell's (Remington, Ind. / Tri Junior-Senior) sixth-place finish.
A pair of second-place finishes paced Trine's performance on the track. Jasper Bassett (Auburn, Ind. / DeKalb) led two top-four finishes by Thunder competitors in the 400-meter dash championships. The freshman ran a time of 48.48 seconds to set a new personal-record. Zach Markley (Winamac, Ind. / Winamac) notched a personal-record 49.21-second time to place fourth.
Nicholas Zak (Saint John, Ind. / Hanover Central) notched his runner-up performance in the 1500-meter run. Zak's time was clocked at 4:02.45. Zak also earned a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run.
Patrick Richardville (Leo, Ind. / Leo) accounted for two fourth-place finishes individually. The sophomore ran a 10.98-second time in the 100-meter dash and also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash. John Daniel's (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Carroll) eighth-place finish joined Richardville in the 100-meter dash.
Two top-eight finishes by James Gregory (Akron, Ind. / Tippecanoe Valley) included a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. The senior ran a season-best time in the event. He also placed fifth in the 110-meter hurdles.
Jacob Leopold (Ottawa, Ohio / Ottawa-Glandorf) also notched a fourth-place individual finish in the 800-meter run. He was joined in the top eight by Zak and Paul Baker (Columbus, Ind. / Columbus East).
Trine's top relay performance came in the 4-x-400-meter relay. Leopold, Bassett, Markley, and Quinton Daniels (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Snider) combined for a season-best time of 3:20.71. The relay placed third.
The 4-x-100-meter relay team added a fourth-place finish. Daniel, Richardville, Calvin Sander (Jasper, Ind. / Northeast Dubois) and John Harris-Scott (Wesley Chapel, Fla. / Wiregrass Ranch) combined to place fourth in 42.75 seconds.
Austin Ganger (Mishawaka, Ind. / Mishawaka) highlighted the efforts of Thunder performers in distance events. The junior overcame several runners down the final stretch to finish sixth in the 5K. Ganger's performance came on the heels of running the 10K last night, in which he placed seventh.
Jonathan Phillips (Royal Center, Ind. / Pioneer Junior-Senior) and Cody Mart (Channahon, Ill. / Minooka Community) finished seventh and eighth respectively in the 3K steeplechase as both runners notched personal-records. Phillips broke his own PR by 10 seconds.
Troy Fritz (Monte Vista, Colo. / Sangre De Cristo) highlighted Trine's efforts in the field elsewhere today with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Fritz also contributed a third-place finish with a personal-record throw in the javelin throw yesterday.
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Field Day concludes the outdoor season for the Trine men's track and field team. Thunder performers will have the opportunity to compete in several last-chance meets in an attempt to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.
