In their largest home meet of the season, Shippensburg University’s track-and-field teams shined in the Paul Kaiser Classic this past weekend. The men’s and women’s teams combined to win 15 events in the meet, with four athletes provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Division II championships.

Sophomore Gabriel Lewis rewrote school history at the meet, breaking his own SU record in the 100-meter dash. His mark of 10.33 seconds was 0.08 seconds better than his old mark, and good enough for first place along with breaking into the Top 25 on the NCAA Division II performance list as of Monday morning. Lewis also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash.

The distance runners on the men’s team had a very successful meet, winning four events. Junior Garrett Quinan triumphed in the 3K at 8:41.00, while placing second in the 5K behind his teammate, freshman Ramon Urena, who shattered his personal best with a time of 15:11.53. 

Sophomore Ben Devine also got a new personal best in the 10K, with his mark of 32:16.73 representing a 1:34 improvement. Graduate Ian Sherlock was also victorious, with his time of 9:02.03 in the 3K steeplechase provisionally qualifying him for nationals.

A pair of athletes won in the hurdles for the Raiders, with sophomore Bernard Bell III leading home senior teammate Jeovaughni Daniel for an SU 1-2 in the 110-meter hurdles. Senior Robbie Hrabosky II was the best of an all-Shippensburg top three in the 400m  hurdles, clocking in at 54.97 seconds, followed by redshirt-sophomore Travis Wilk at 54.99 and freshman Josef Book at 55.51.

Both men’s relay teams were victorious in the meet. The 4x100m team of sophomore Lavar Jackson, freshman Jae Galloway, Lewis and Bell III took the top spot at 40.78 seconds. The 4x400m team picked up a dominant win, with the quartet of Hrabosky II, senior Mason Boyd, junior James Jaisingh and junior Quinton Townsend’s time of 3:18.08 being more than 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Edinboro.

Sophomore Gian Greggo was the star of the men’s field team, with a season best in the shot put of 55 feet, 1.5 inches (16.80m). This gave him first place in the event and was enough to surpass the provisional qualification mark for nationals. He also set a personal best in the discus, joining sophomore teammate Donovan Kitchen in the top three.

The women’s team picked up a pair of wins on the track, including freshman Victoria Bartholomew’s personal best effort in the 3K at 10:52.65. The women’s 4x400m team also won the final event of the meet, with sophomores Emily Calamia, Melanie Barger, Madison Malcolm, and junior Alyssa Wert’s time of 3:57.98 giving them the win by nearly four seconds.

Junior Lauren Bellows got the field events started for the women’s team with a fantastic hammer throw victory on Friday. Her throw of 164 feet, 8 inches (50.19m) was a new personal best by over six feet. She now sits fourth place in the event for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

Senior Sasha Lee grabbed the remaining victory for SU track and field, placing first in the triple jump at 38 feet, 11 inches (11.86m). Other strong efforts in the field included sophomore Carissa Bender improving her pole vault personal best to 11 feet, 9.75 inches for a third-place finish and sophomore Ashley Laukus placing second in the high jump.

SU’s track-and-field teams have one regular season event left before the PSAC Championships, as they will compete in the West Chester Tune-Up on Friday. A start time has yet to be announced as of publication.

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