ATLANTA, Ga. – The first outdoor meet of the season for the Trine University men's track and field team is the Thrills in the Hills Open, hosted by Emory University.
The afternoon was highlighted by distance competitors on Friday with Ryan Hoopingarner finishing third in the 5000-meter run. His time of 15:22.54 led three scoring members for the Thunder. Behind Hoopingarner was Matthew Edison is sixth at 15:43.61 and Tanner McMain in seventh at 15:44.57. In the 3000-meter steeplechase, Trine had three in the top nine, including Aidan Lapp in sixth (10:12.70), Austin Smith in seventh (10:30.65) and Lucas Tutrow in ninth (10:40.62).
Jake Gladieux secured a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdle event with a time of 53.05 seconds. Other top finishers in running events for Trine included Tyler Hartleroad in the 1500-meter run (14th - 4:09.42) and Greysen Spohn in the 200-meter dash (17th – 22.48 seconds).
The hammer throw featured a pair of scoring team members in Jacob Barkey, who was fourth at 51.59 meters (169' 3.00") and Dillon Dennison in eighth at 44.50 meters (146' 0.00"). Spohn scored points in the high jump with a team-best fifth-place finish in the event at 1.85 meters (6' 0.75"). The javelin saw Eirik Eggen go 38.32 meters (125' 8.00") to finish 14th and Ben Williams was 15th in the long jump at 6.27 meters (20' 7.00").
Action continues at Emory University on Saturday, March 25 while some members of the track and field team will take part in the Yellow Jacket Outdoor Open at Cedarville University as well.