GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Trine men's track and field team is in second place after day one of MIAA Field Day, held Thursday at Calvin College.
Jeffery Barnett (Fremont, Ohio / Fremont-Ross) won gold in the long jump to help pace the efforts of the Thunder in the opening events of the championship meet. The sophomore jumped 7.14 meters (23 feet, 3.25 inches) to earn his second conference title of the year in the long jump. Barnett also qualified for the finals of the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. Eric Townsend (Greenwood, Ind. / Roncalli) also scored for Trine in the long jump with a seventh-place finish.
Ryan Haarer (Goshen, Ind. / Northridge) have Trine a second conference champion as he won the pole vault. Haarer cleared a height of 4.50 meters (14 feet, 9 inches) to earn gold for the first time at a conference meet. Trey Waagen (Horton, Mich. / Hanover-Horton) added an eighth-place finish to give the Thunder two scorers in the event.
Derek Scott (Niles, Mich. / Niles) led three Thunder to earn points in the shot put. Scott placed second with a toss of 13.70 meters (44 feet, 11.5 inches). Nick Gerber (Goshen, Ind. / Goshen) added a fourth-place finish at 13.59 meters (44 feet, 7 inches), while Skyler Dunckley (Cedar, Mich. / Traverse City West) notched a personal-best 13.24-meter (43 feet, 5.25 inches) throw to place seventh.
David Schaaf (Kokomo, Ind. / Northwestern) added an eighth-place finish in the javelin throw to round out field scorers on day one. Schaaf's throw was measured at 38.74 meters (127 feet, 1 inch).
Collin Elek (Osceola, Ind. / Penn) highlighted Trine's efforts on the track, earning key points in the 10,000-meter run. Elek turned in a personal-best time of 32:56.23 to place fourth in the event. He beat his old personal-record by 19 seconds.
Trine runners earned key position in qualifying runs for several events. Patrick Richardville (Leo, Ind. / Leo) led three Thunder qualifiers in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.96 seconds. Barnett qualified for the finals with the fourth-best time, while James Washington (Michigan City, Ind. / Michigan City) qualified at sixth.
Mat Bollan (Pleasant Lake, Ind. / Angola) notched th ebest qualifying time in the 400-meter hurdles at 56.92 seconds.
Richardville led three qualifiers in the 200-meter dash in second place. Barnett qualified in third, while Jacob Root (Vicksburg, Mich. / Vicksburg) will give Trine three scorers in that event with the eighth-best time in preliminaries.
Jasper Bassett (Auburn, Ind. / DeKalb) ran the second-best preliminary time in the 400-meter dash, while Austin Ganger (Mishawaka, Ind. / Penn) rounded out Thunder qualifiers with the eighth-best time in the preliminaries of the 800-meter run.
Trine performers earned the Thunder 44 points in today's events. Calvin sits in first place with 83 points.
MIAA Field Day concludes tomorrow. Events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.