FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Trine University men's track and field team took part in their second event of the spring semester on Saturday at the Mastodon Invitational on the campus of Purdue-Fort Wayne. Despite no team score, there were plenty of noteworthy individual performances.
In the 3000-meter run, Joseph Packard finished seventh with a time of 8:40.88. His time is a personal best and less than one second off of securing a new school record in the distance event. Other top performances in distance races included Holden Martin with a time of 4:28.55 in the mile run (7th) and Tyler Hartleroad at 1:59.60 in the 800-meter run (6th).
Theodore Samra continued his red hot start to the indoor season with two event victories. He was top of the charts in both the shot put and weight throw. He had a toss of 15.12 meters (49' 7.25") in the shot put and 17.23 meters (56' 6.5") in the weight throw. Samra had a new personal best in the shot put and remains less than one meter off the school record in the weight throw.
In the high jump, it was Justin Ackerman leading the way for the Thunder. He was fifth in his event, but had a score of 1.88 meters (6' 2.00"), just off of the school record mark. Ethan Spahr (6.54 meters / 21' 5.50") was second in the long jump and Andrew Cogswell (11.43 meters / 37' 6.00") sixth in the triple jump.
Jake Gladieux was the final event winner for the Trine men in the 60-meter hurdles (8.20 seconds). Other sprint events included William Thonn leading the charge in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.18 seconds (6th) and Aaron Pike in the 400-meter dash at 53.03 seconds (4th).
The 4x400-meter relay team finished runners up in the event with a time of 3:29.97. Evan Selby, Greysen Spohn, Gladieux and Ryan Smith were the Thunder participants. Martin, Blane Johnson, Aidan Lapp and Packard were distance medley relay team members. They finished sixth at 10:47.15.
On Friday next week, Trine will travel to Chicago, Illinois to take part in the Aurora Grand Prix.