Last weekend, the Shippensburg University men’s indoor track and field team won its sixth straight PSAC title. The team captured this year’s title with 212 points scored, which was just 1.5 points shy of the PSAC indoor record that the Raiders set back in 2012. The Raiders won the title with a 95.5-point lead over second-place East Stroudsburg University.
The Raiders scored in every event at the PSAC Indoor Championships and had multiple place-winners in 13 of 15 individual events. SU remains the only PSAC school to ever have a Top 5 winner in every event. SU had 38 different men compete at the championships this weekend and 32 of them scored at least one point to the team score. Of the 15 events, the Raiders received points from 37 of their 53 entries.
The Raiders swept all of the big awards handed out after the championships. SU junior Kieran Sutton was named the PSAC Indoor Championships Most Valuable Track Athlete. Sutton won the mile, 3K and anchored the first-place distance relay race.
Senior LeQuan Chapman was named the Most Valuable Field Athlete for his winning performance in the long jump and triple jump. Senior Grant Smith was named the Most Valuable Overall Athlete for setting a meet record in the shot put and placing second in the weight throw with a new personal best. Matt Gillette won three races — two of which were distance events —on Sunday, Sutton had a strong finish to the race and just beat Slippery Rock University’s Ryan Thompson by two-tenths of a second to win the race.
In the 3K, Sutton found his stride with 600 meters to go and coasted to a 5-second victory over Lock Haven University’s Ben Robinson.
Sutton ran a time of 8:30.66 and was joined on the award podium by senior Chris Mullin, who finished fourth with a time of 8:39.46. Senior Braden Bruning finished sixth with a time of 8:43.56 and sophomore Alex Balla finished eighth with a time of 8:45.70.
With his performance, Chapman appeared to have claimed his NCAA Championships qualification in two days. His winning triple jump came on his second attempt, which was an indoor lifetime personal record of 49 feet, 6.25 inches. That jump put him 13th overall on the NCAA Division II performance event.
Smith’s meet record in the shot put of 57 feet, 11 inches came on his final throw at the meet, though he had already secured the championship before his final throw.
Sophomore Dru Adighibe had a fantastic PSAC debut this weekend. Adighibe won the 200-meter in 21.54 seconds, tying Matt Kujawski’s school record, and winning the event by .46 seconds. Adighibe’s time was good for 16th on the NCAA Division II performance list.
He is on the bubble for national qualifications that will be determined in the next few days.
Junior Danny Meyer finished third in the heptathlon for his third straight year, but his NCAA-provisional qualifying score of 4,763 points is a new collegiate personal best by 102 points.
Meyer’s new personal best was a high-jump clearance of 5 feet, 10.5 inches and a shot put result of 36 feet, 5 inches.
The SU men’s track and field team is currently awaiting the announcement of national qualifiers.
SU has 10 performances that are among the Top 20 in the nation. The NCAA has accepted between 15-20 competitors for indoor events.
60
2. Dru Adighibe 6.81
4. RJ Smith 7.01
200
1. Dru Adighibe 21.54 (NCAA 'P')
3. Chris Craig 21.99
400
7. Ricky Meriwether 49.78
800
4. Tim Usher 1:56.86
Dominic Stroh 1:58.66
Matt Sankey 2:03.18
Mile
1. Kieran Sutton 4:20.91
3. Dominic Stroh 4:22.02
3K
1. Kieran Sutton 8:30.66
4. Chris Mullin 8:39.46
6. Braden Bruning 8:43.56
8. Alex Balla 8:45.70
Cole Nissley 8:47.52
60H
3. Ori Rinaman 8.31
5. Terry Jackson 8.42
6. Josh Purcell 8.51
7. Eric Hertzog 8.57
4x400
2. Ori Rinaman, Ricky Meriwether, Tim Usher, Dru Adighibe 3:18.63
High Jump
2. Tra-C Davis 6' 8 ¾" (2.05m) (NCAA 'P')
3. Jalen Ramsey 6' 8 ¾" (2.05m) (NCAA 'P')
4. Aaron Webb 6' 8 ¾" (2.05m) (NCAA 'P')
Triple Jump
1. LeQuan Chapman 49' 6 ¼" (15.09m) (NCAA 'P')
Devon Fisher 45' 3 ¾" (13.81m)
Shot Put
1. Grant Smith 57' 11" (17.65m) (NCAA 'P')
2. Bryan Pearson 55' 3" (16.84m) (NCAA 'P')
8. Ryan Hart 49' 0 ¾" (14.95m)
Alec Rideout 48' 8 ¾" (14.85m)
Garrett Vandebrake 44' 8 ¼" (13.62m)
Tom Peppernick 41' 7 ¼" (12.68m)
Heptathlon
3. Danny Meyer 4763 points
Saturday Results:
5K
1. Austin McGinley 15:02.93
8. Braden Bruning 15:19.83
Alex Balla 15:21.53
Chris Mullin 15:24.37
Alec Brand 15:41.84
4x8
6. Ian Davies, Connor Holm, Cole Nissley, Matt Sankey 8:08.73
DMR
1. Dominic Stroh, Ori Rinaman, Tim Usher, Kieran Sutton 10:04.10
Pole Vault
5. Danny Meyer 14' 9 ½" (4.51m)
7. Connor McHugh 14' 3 ½" (4.36m)
8. Pat Manna 14' 3 ½" (4.36m)
Long Jump
1. LeQuan Chapman 24' 2 ½" (7.38m) (NCAA 'P')
Jalen Ramsey 21' (6.40m)
Weight Throw
2. Grant Smith 59' 9 ½" (18.22m) (NCAA 'P')
3. Wulf Sutcliffe 56' 7 ½" (17.26m) (NCAA 'P')
5. Alec Rideout 54' 2" (16.51m)
6. Bryan Pearson 54' ½" (16.47m)
Garrett Vandebrake 50' 6" (15.39m)
Tyler Kerstetter 45' 3 ½" (13.80m)
Tom Peppernick 43' 7 ¾" (13.30m)
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