Shippensburg University’s indoor track-and-field teams competed in a pair of events this past weekend, earning three podiums and three provisional national qualifying marks at the Skyes & Sabock Challenge hosted by Penn State University. They also claimed 12 podiums and an event win in the Plex Shootout at Alvernia University.
In the Sykes & Sabock Challenge, junior Aliyah Serrano set a new personal best in the 60-meter dash, with her time of 7.62 seconds beating her prior best by 0.04 seconds and placing second in the event. The time was good enough to satisfy the provisional qualifying mark for nationals, as was senior Leah Graybill’s time of 24.37 seconds in the 200-meter dash, where she placed fifth.
On the men’s side at Penn State, senior Josh Herbster put up a distance of 18.98 meters, good enough to both place third in the event and hit a provisional qualifying mark for nationals. The only other podium for the men’s team belonged to freshman Lavar Jackson, placing second in the 200-meter dash at 21.88 seconds.
The men’s team competing in the Plex Shootout racked up eight podiums, highlighted by sophomore Darien Ressler winning the triple jump at 13.62 meters, a new indoor personal best for him. The performance was good enough to qualify him for the PSAC championships.
Junior Robert Lissner also stood out on the men’s field team, setting a new personal best in pole vault at 15 feet, 3 inches, beating his prior mark by two inches. He placed second in the event and qualified for the PSAC championships. The other PSAC qualifiers on the men’s field team were freshmen Donovan Kitchen and Colin Daub, who placed second and third in the shot put, respectively.
The only PSAC qualifier on the men’s track team was junior Aiden Gonder, with his time of 15:35.72 in the 5K placing second in the event. Sophomore Ethan Conrad also podiumed in his event, placing third in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.89 seconds.
The women’s teams competing at Alvernia earned four podiums, with junior Belle Weikert placing third in the 3K at 10:45.47 and junior Nicola Puggé coming in third in the 60-meter hurdles at 9.47 seconds. On the field side, freshman Carissa Bender qualified for the PSAC championships with her third-place finish in pole vault at 10 feet, 10 inches. Junior ShanAnn Simmons also placed third in her event, finishing the weight throw at 13.79 meters.
Another pair of events are on tap for the indoor track-and-field teams this weekend, with the River Hawk Friday Night Showdown starting at 4 p.m. Friday at Susquehanna University, as well as the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational starting at 2 p.m. Friday before resuming at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Liberty University.
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