Men’s squad picks up eight NCAA provisional qualifying marks at meet

The Shippensburg University men’s and women’s track and field squad competed at the Bison Outdoor Classic at Bucknell University.

The men’s squad picked up four more NCAA provisional qualifying marks on Sunday from Bucknell as the Raiders finished the two-day Bison Outdoor Classic with eight such performances, five on the track and three in the field.

Steve Waithe came close to Russ Dickinson’s 35-year-old school record in the triple jump with a mark of 48 feet, 11 3/4 inches that now slots him atop the PSAC rankings and 12th in Division II.
Herman Kirkland posted a season personal record of 10.59 seconds in the 100-meter dash that satisfies the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. His school record in the event is 10.56 seconds set in the wind last season at Lafayette.

Tom Kehl and Joel Flott each recorded performances in the 800 meters that merited them their second NCAA provisional qualifiers of the year. Kehl finished in 1:52.09 with a new season personal record while Flott crossed the line in 1:52.36.

Six Raiders met the PSAC standard in the 800. Among them was senior Pio Mandato, who made his season debut in the event and finished with a time of 1:55.79 that is just off his career personal record in the event. Matt Bee improved his season personal record by several seconds with a time of 1:56.29.

Travis Nye capped off a splendid weekend in the field with a huge personal record in the hammer and a season personal record in the shot.

Nye’s hammer throw of 176 feet, 8 inches is an improvement of 10 feet from his previous best set last week at Millersville, which marked the first time in his career that he had surpassed 50 meters in the event. His shot put throw of 49 feet, 5 3/4 inches is a slight improvement from his previous season personal record from Millersville.

Kyle Raguz stepped up with a personal record in the 400-meter hurdles, pacing the SU contingent with a time of 54.48 seconds.

Robert Bales trimmed three tenths of a second off his personal record in the 200 meters with a time of 22.02 seconds. Matt Kujawski made his season debut in the 200 and posted a time of 22.39 seconds.

The Raiders will return to action April 26-27 at the Penn Relays.

This weekend, the team will assist with the 86th Annual Jack Roddick/Shippensburg University High School Track and Field Invitational to be conducted from Seth Grove Stadium.

This will be their first and only home meet of the year.