Principia College's Track and Field team kicked off the 2020 season at home in the Crafton Center as we hosted the Principia Relays. It was a two day meet (Friday and Saturday, Jan 31-Feb1). Some members of the men's team opened their season with some PR's (personal record) and first time performances. Two school records were also set.
Friday:
First event up for the day was the weight throw. This event features men spinning in a circle and then releasing a 35 pound weight. Competing for his first time ever for the event, freshman Matthew Hagenlocher tossed it 7.9 meters (25' 11"). Next up was sophomore
Stan Ott heaving the weight 11.57 meters (37' 11.5"). This was a PR of 27 centimeter (10.5 inches). In this meet, each competitor received four throws. Senior
Chris Puduski fouled his first, third, and fourth throw. Fortunately, he made his second throw count which not only set a new PR, he also broke his own school record by two centimeters with a throw of 13.68 meters (44' 10.75"). Chris is highly competitive and was more focused on hitting his positions during the throw. So, while he had other throws that would have been measured, he was so focused on these correct positions that he chose to take a foul since he wasn't meeting his own standards. It should be a great season for him.
The next field event was the men's long jump. Sophomore
Wisdom Thomas saved his best jump for last as he set a new PR by 47 centimeters with a leap of 6.9 meters (22' 7"). That is an improvement by 18.5 inches over last year. This also moved Wisdom into third place on Principia's indoor all-time best list trailing only Jon Ansumana who graduated last year, and Richard Bonsi who graduated in 2016, but was also competing in the meet.
After the field events things started on the track. Two men set new PR's. Sophomore
Joey Onyechi was the first to do so improving by .05 seconds to 7.34 in the 60 meter dash. Junior
Dean Colarossi was next with an improvement of .17 seconds after running 7.9 seconds in the 60. Wisdom along with freshman
Alberto Montero and junior Mar Htay all ran the 60 for the first time ever to set marks to try and beat as the season progresses. Mar was competing for the first time ever.
Next up was the 200 meter dash. Joey once again set a PR by .18 seconds by running a 24.04. Sophomore
Chris Mwaura also competed indoors for the first time ever running a 25.62.
Most of the team ran really well for the first day of competition for the season. A few athletes are looking forward to their next races and field events after not performing quite their best.
Corey Carter ran times most of us could only dream about, but wasn't quite up to speed after failing to make the finals in the 60 and running what would still be the second fastest time ever for a Principia man, but 1.5 seconds slower than his best.
Saturday:
Wisdom started the day for Principia in the first event of the day and picked up where he left off with incredible personal performances. Wisdom set a new PR in the triple jump by 50 centimeters and sailed past the best mark previously by a Principia athlete. Paul Petersen, by 39 centimeters. Wisdom's new mark of 13.49 meters (44' 3.25") bested Paul Petersen's mark from 1987 by 39 centimeters. What a way to start the day for Principia.
Next up on the track was senior
Abe Ott. Abe ran his way to a PR in the mile run by .22 seconds with a time of 4:27.83. He ran a great even race by setting himself up with a conservative approach on lap 1 where he started at the back of the race and worked his way up. After his first conservative lap each of his next seven laps were run within 1.4 seconds of each other. That is a great way to start the season.
After the mile, the 1600 meter sprint medley relay was up, and our four men didn't disappoint. Joey started things off with a 200 followed by Dean running a 200. They combined to run 48.2 seconds for 400 meters. Dean passed the baton onto freshman
Nathan Babcock as he ran a 400. The anchor leg was senior
Quinn Heinbaugh as he raced for 800 meters. In the end, the men crossed the finish line in first place with a time of 3:51.54 and moved into second place on Principia's all-time best list.
Senior
Quinn Heinbaugh didn't get to compete his junior year because he was studying abroad. His sophomore year he set the school record in 300 meter dash. While he was abroad it was beaten by two teammates. While he didn't set a new school record, he still went faster than his old school record as he finished with a new PR of 38.89.
It was a great start to the season for the men and more records look to fall in the coming weeks.
Thank You!!!!
Our home track meets would not be possible without the selfless work of our volunteers. A big thank you is deserved by the baseball team, Marquette High School track and field team, softball team coach
Ken Leavoy, and many other individual volunteers who measured jumpers and throwers distances, raked sand, moved hurdles and starting blocks, ran the check-in/announcer table, and other duties. With hundreds of athletes competing in multiple events our volunteers helped make the track meet a smooth operation!
Up Next:
Next week, the track and field team travels to Jacksonville, IL for the Illinois College Jim Green Invitational. Stay tuned for some even better performances and hopefully more PR's!
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