ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University men's indoor track & field team won its third home meet of the season today at the Keith E. Busse/Steel Dynamics Athletic and Recreation Center in Angola, Ind.
The Thunder scored 243 team points to claim first place out of a five-team field. Albion (Mich.) College was second with 89 points and Olivet (Mich.) College was third with 88 points.
Highlighting the day was a pair of school records that were broken on the track in the Distance Medlay Relay and in the 200-meter dash. The team of Levi Neuzerling (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), Kyran Pearson (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Central), Aiden Lapp (South Bend, Ind./Riley) and Neil O'Brien (Whiteland, Ind./Roncalli) posted a mark of 10:22.40 in the DMR to win the event and improved the previous school record by over six seconds (10:28.83) that was set in February of 2020.
In the 200m, sophomore Ben Williams (Farmington Hills, Mich./Harrison) placed second in the event, but ran a time of 22.35 seconds to set a Trine indoor record tha was previously held by Tyler Bourdo who posted a mark of 22.38 during the 2013 season. Also in the 200m, three other Trine runners finished in the top-five that included fellow sophomore Jake Gladieux (Oregon, Ohio/Whitmer) who placed third in a time of 23.26 seconds.
Trine captured four additional running events and swept the distance races starting with O'Brien who won the 800-meter run after recording a time of 2:03.16. The remaining top-three spots in the event were also held by Trine competitors in junior Zach Griffith (Springport, Mich./Olivet) who finished second in a time of 2:04.10 and junior Holden Martin (Indianapolis, Ind./Scecina Memorial) came across the finish line in third place after a time of 2:04.97.
The Thunder also finished first thru third in both the 3000-meter and 5000-meter runs. Senior Jack Beakas (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) won the 3000m with a time of 8:42.22 and was followed by fellow seniors Derek Miller (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview) and Noah Acker (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) who placed second and third with marks of 8:51.24 and 9:05.09, respectively.
In the 5000m, junior Quinten Prieur (Constantine, Mich./Constantine) had a winning time of 16:05.13 with junior Seth Knepper (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) finishing as the runner up in a time of 16:23.57 and senior Alexander Amaro (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) was third at 16:33.77. The trio were part of five Trine competitors that made up the event field.
Four runners placed in the top-five in the mile run that was won by sophomore Skyler Schrope (Charlottesville, Ind./Eastern Hancock) with a mark of 4:41.54. Freshman Austin Smith (Jackson, Mich./Napoleon) was the next highest Trine finisher with a third-place time of 4:44.98.
In addition to competing in the 200m, Gladieux took first place in the 60-meter hurdles with a finals time of 8.30 seconds. Sophomore Kobe Johnson (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth) was third in the event in a time of 9.47 seconds.
Rounding out the top finishes in the running events was freshman Danny Vinson (Berrien Springs, Mich./Berrien Springs) who was the runner-up in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.05 seconds. Sophomore William Thonn (Rochester, Ind./Rochester) finished a close third after running a time of 7.09 seconds. Vinson and Thorn were two of four total Thunder runners to qualify for the finals in the event.
In the field events, junior Theodore Samra (Lansing, Mich./DeWitt) and senior Nicholas Kane (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) placed second and third in the weight throw with best tosses of 50' 10.75" and 49' 8.50", respetively.
After setting a school record in the 200m, Williams competed in the long jump and posted a best leap of 22' 9.00" to place second and was one of three Trine throwers to place in the top-five.
Junior Greysen Spohn (Peru, Ind./Peru) finished third in the high jump to lead Trine in the event and cleared the bar at a best height of 6' 3.50".
In the pole vault, junior Jon-Matthew Spaw (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) recorded the best finish for the Thunder of 12' 11.50" which was good enough to finish second overall.
Junior Noah McClellan (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) was third in the triple jump with a distance of 41' 2.25" to complete the top individual efforts for Trine on the day.
Up next for Trine will be the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Indoor Championship next Saturday, Mar. 6 at the Keith E. Busse/Steel Dynamics Athletic and Recreation Center. Trine will host the men's events with the day scheduled to start at 10 a.m.
