The Shippensburg University track-and-field teams split over the weekend to travel to the Colonial Relays at the College of William & Mary and to the Millersville Metrics at Millersville University.
The men put on strong performances in both locations, with multiple Raiders putting on PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference)-qualifying performances as well as several NCAA provisional-qualifiers.
SU’s main throwers in the shot put, discus and hammer traveled to the College of William & Mary. Bryan Pearson, Caleb Bartlett and Alec Rideout all competed in the events. Bartlett took second in the hammer with a throw of 174 feet, 7 inches, and Pearson finished sixth with 158 feet, 5 inches.
Pearson excelled in the discus, reaching an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 170 feet, 5 inches, to take third. Pearson is now the PSAC leader in the event and one of only 10 men in Division II to reach 170 feet. Rideout placed sixth in the shot put with a distance of 52 feet, 6 1/2 inches.
Another good performance came at the high jump when Tra-C Davis took second with a height of 6 feet, 10 1/4 inches. Davis is looking to reach his third consecutive appearance in the NCAA National Championships in the event.
The 4x100 was once again a strong event for SU. The team of Austin Shupp, Dreux Stamford, Calvin Dennis and Chris Craig took fourth in the event with a time of 42.16. Devonte Pickett replaced Shupp in the team for the 4x200, and the Raiders reached a time of 1:28.58 to take eighth.
At Millersville, David Brantley took third in the long jump with a PR of 21 feet, 1 1/2 inches; Brantley also took fifth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.29. Kyle Baughman tied for fourth in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, 7 1/2 inches.
Three Raiders placed in the Top 8 in the javelin at Millersville. Derek Nothstein continued his impressive start to the outdoor season with a third-place finish and an NCAA provisional-qualifying throw of 208 feet, 9 inches. Ben Hurda also had an NCAA provisional-qualifying effort with a throw of 195 feet to finish in fifth.
Jake Rohm snagged a seventh-place finish with a javelin throw of 178 feet, 10 inches. All of SU’s athletes in the javelin had PSAC-qualifying efforts, including Alec Stimson, who fell just short of 170 feet.
SU will split its squad again next weekend to go to Messiah College and to George Mason University for the Messiah Invitational and George Mason Spring Invite, respectively.
The Slate welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. Read our full guidelines here.