Shippensburg University’s men’s and women’s track-and-field teams put up solid marks at the Bison Open & Multi hosted by Bucknell University on Friday and Saturday.

In the first two events of the day on Friday, Carissa Bender cleared the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) qualifying height in the pole vault with a jump of 3.30 meters (10 feet, 10 inches), and Makayla Decker improved her personal record (PR) in the shot put to 11.85 meters (38 feet, 10.5 inches), missing a PSAC mark by 2 inches.

On the track, SU also recorded multiple top finishes Friday night. 

Leah Graybill and Aliyah Serrano went 2-3 in the 200-meter dash with times of 24.70 seconds and 25.31 seconds, the season best for Serrano. 

Victoria Mattioli placed second in her first collegiate indoor 5K with a PSAC-qualifying time of 18:39.49.

In the 60-meter hurdle dash, Sasha Lee placed second in finals with a time of 8.97, breaking the nine-second barrier once again. Ryleigh Marks finished fourth in the finals in 9.27 seconds.

The women as well as the men both teamed up for solid times in the distance medley relay to qualify for the PSAC Championships.

For the men’s team, Lavar Jackson delivered a fast 200-meter dash, winning the competition in 21.71 seconds. His time was just .14 shy of his school record that he set in December.

Jeovaughni Daniel and Bernard Bell III went 4-5 in the 60-meter hurdle finals with times of 8.41 and 8.44, respectively.

On Saturday, Chase Hensinger put up the highlight performance on the track, winning the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.98, less than a second away from the NCAA provisional qualifying mark. 

Kenny Rhyne won the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 6.75 inches (2.00 meters), clearing the mark for the second week in a row.

Ryan Murphy placed fourth in the heptathlon with a score of 4,279, a new PR by over 100 points. Murphy is ranked in the Top 14 in the PSAC for the event, which qualifies for the championship.

For the women, Graybill and Serrano delivered another 2-3 finish in the 60-meter dash, finishing only behind Laila Campbell, a senior in high school committed to run track for Louisiana State University.

Lee returned to action on Saturday in the jumps, winning the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 2.5 inches (5.55 meters) and fourth in the triple jump with 38 feet, 5 inches (11.71 meters).

Allyson Richwine finished sixth in the high jump with a season best of 5 feet, 3 inches (1.60 meters).

In the weight throw, three women posted new PRs, all of them trying to get a conference cut (46 feet, 11 inches). ShanAnn Simmons improved her PR by over 4 feet to finish sixth with 46 feet, 8.25 inches (14.23 meters). Lauren Bellows finished right behind her with a PR of 46 feet, 7.5 inches (14.21 meters) and Abby Reasoner, a javelin thrower in the outdoor season, threw 44 feet, 4 inches (13.51 meters) to improve her PR by over 5 feet in just her second collegiate weight throw competition. 

Next week the team will split its squad, as some athletes will head to Penn State to compete at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge, while others will compete at the Plex Shootout in Alvernia.

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