OLIVET, Mich. – For the third season in a row, the Trine University men's track and field team has won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Outdoor Championships. The Thunder were able to tally 219 points in total, nearly 60 points ahead of second-place Hope College.
Jake Gladieux led the Thunder with two event wins – both the 110-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles. Gladieux ran a 14.84-second time in the shorter event, with Greysen Spohn (15.20 seconds), Evan Selby (15.37 seconds) and Kanaan Jewett (15.78 seconds) in second, third and fifth in the event as well. In the 400-meter hurdles, Gladieux won the race with a time of 53.53 seconds and Selby was seventh to score points for the team as well at 57.82 seconds.
The longest track event of the day was the 5000-meter run, and a trio of Trine student-athletes reached the podium. Ryan Hoopingarner was second overall at 15:18.15 while Joseph Packard finished fourth at 15:29.76 and Zach Brickler fifth at 15:30.91.
The Thunder also got three runner-up finishes in field events on Friday. Ethan Spahr was second in both the triple jump (13.34 meters / 43' 9.25") and the javelin (51.43 meters / 168' 8.00"). Colton Wampler secured a fifth-place finish in the javelin event at 44.47 meters (145' 10.00"). Spohn had the other second-place finish in the high jump by reaching a height of 1.86 meters (6' 1.25"). Spahr was the other point-scorer for the team in the high jump at 1.80 meters (5' 10.75"), good for sixth.
A third-place finish was secured by Philip Nemechek in the 800-meter run at 1:56.89. Tyler Hartleroad was right behind him in fourth in the event at 1:57.69. A pair of student-athletes scored points in the 1500-meter run, led by Hartleroad with a fourth-place finish (4:01.36). Holden Martin reached the podium with an eighth-place finish (4:05.63).
The 4x100-meter relay team of Jordan Grindle, William Thonn, Ben Williams and Spohn were fourth in the event with a time of 42.25 seconds. In the final field event contested on Friday, Brandan Cross was fourth as well to lead the Thunder in the discus. His throw of 41.59 meters (136' 5.00") led three scoring members – Travis Dowling in fifth (41.46 meters / 136' 0.00") and Kimball Hughes in eighth (38.69 meters / 126' 11.00").
The 4x400-meter relay team of Nemechek, Hartleroad, Aaron Pike and Ryan Smith crossed the line fifth overall at 3:24.69. Also with a fifth-place finishing position was Grindle in the 100-meter dash (11.08 seconds). Spohn also reached the podium for Trine with an eighth-place time of 11.25 seconds in the event. The 3000-meter steeplechase saw three members for the Thunder go 6-7-8. Aidan Lapp was sixth (9:54.89), Lucas Tutrow seventh (9:55.74) and Austin Smith eighth (9:56.90).
The team will look for continued postseason success at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 25-27. Stay tuned for www.trinethunder.com for more information regarding potential qualifications for that event.
