The Emporia State track squad opened their season at home last Saturday in the annual ESU Spring Open against 20 schools at Welch Stadium.
The women finished fourth in the team point totals and the men finished third with 87 points. Eight Hornets received provisional qualifying marks.
“I thought it went really well,” said Steve Blocker, head coach. “Overall, it was a strong team performance, and I think we can really build on this going into next week.”
Samuel Saidi, senior, won the men’s high jump competition with a provisional qualifying mark of 6-10. Andrew Etheridge, senior, won the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.19, which is the fifth fastest in the country. Donald Wilcox placed third in the long jump with a jump of 23-10, which is the nation’s ninth best jump thus far.
“I think it was pretty good overall,” Etheridge said. “I think a lot of guys competed well for a season opener and coming off of a little break. Right now a big focus point for us at this time in the season is walking off the track healthy. Yesterday, we did a pretty good job of doing that so I’d say (it) was a good step towards a great outdoor season.”
Five throwers hit provisional marks as well. Sara Dunkin Beam, senior, took fourth when she tossed the javelin 145-4, which is the ninth best in the country. Elizabeth Costello threw it 140-10, which placed her fifth in the meet and was good for fifteenth best in the country. Kyle Pfizenmaier, senior, and Alex Linsey, senior, gave the men’s javelin throwers two provisionals as well. Pfizenmaier threw his spear 203-6, which ranks as the 12th best throw in the country. Linsey ranks 20th with a toss of 192-10. Nick Klenda finished out the throwers provisional marks, with a throw of 162-6, which ranks 15th nationally.
“The meet went well,” said Linsey. “It definitely started better than last year. There are better days ahead for us. We know what to expect and we just have to keep training.”
Some other notable results from the meet are Colin Coleman, junior, and Ryan Dickson, senior, who finished fifth and sixth in the men’s 200 meter hurdles. Bobby Thompson, junior, finished fourth in the 800 meter and 10th in the 1500 meter. Tre Dickerson finished fifth in men’s triple jump. The ESU men’s 4×100 team finished third with a time of 41.26 seconds.
The Hornets will be back at Welch Stadium to compete in one of the largest single day track meets with 1,000 individuals this Saturday, April 4 for the ESU Relays.
