On February 29, Principia hosted the Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. This is the first year for SLIAC indoor championships. The top three finishers in each event earned first team all-conference honors. Athletes placing fourth, fifth, and sixth earned second team all-conference honors.
Field Events
As usual, Wisdom Thomas and Chris Puduski started the day off first for Principia. Wisdom's first event was the long jump. He managed two clean jumps out of his four attempts. His third jump was the best at 6.94 meters (22' 9"). This was his second best jump ever, and it earned him the conference championship and Principia's only event winner of the day. This was ten centimeters better than second place. After a break while the women used the sand pit, Wisdom then competed in the triple jump. Ranked number one coming into the meet, Wisdom couldn't quite get his steps down correctly. He fouled his first three jumps but did manage a 13.08 meter (42' 10 ¾") jump for his fourth and final attempt. It ended up being about 18 inches away from his best. Still, it was good enough for a second place finish in the conference to Greenville's Di'Mond Salmond. They have a nice rivalry going and it will be exciting to see it move outdoors soon!
While Wisdom was competing in the triple jump, a couple of Principia men were competing in the weight throw. In the first flight, Matthew Hagenlocher finished with an 8.55 meter (28' ½") throw. In the second flight, Chris Puduski heaved the 35 pound weight 15.27 meters (50' 1"). This was his second best throw ever (best ever for only a two turn throw instead of three turns) and earned him a second place finish to Greenville's Nate Brown.
Running Events
For all running events, the heats were determined by fastest entry times based on season best performances. Also, if it was a debut race for someone, they were automatically put in the first heat. The sixty meter dash was the first running event for Principia men to contest on the track. The first heat was all Principia with four runners and Mar Htay set a PR at 7.92 which was a half second improvement from a month ago. Marc Trinidad ran his first 60 meter dash ever and finished in 8.15 seconds. Alberto Montero crossed in fourth with a new PR by .09 seconds with an 8.49. Winning the heat was Mitchell Gill running in his first ever indoor 60 for Principia. Mitchell finished in 7.3 seconds which was good enough to tie Jonathan Ansumana for fifth place on Principia's all-time list. In the second heat, Dean Colarossi set a new PR by .02 seconds as he crossed the line in 7.88 seconds. Running beside Dean was Juan Parks who ran his first indoor 60 after twice at 55 meters. This gave Juan a starting lifetime PR of 7.92 seconds. Winning the third heat, and placing fifth overall (by .003 seconds) was Joey Onyechi. Joey's time of 7.13 (7.125 to sixth place's 7.128) took him past Mitchell Gill and Jonathan Ansumana, who were moved into a tie for sixth place all time for Principia, as well as Chad Vanderbeck with a 7.29 from 1994 who now sits fifth all-time. Joey now sits fourth all-time for Principia. Only .05 seconds separates him from second on Principia's list of best all time. Joey was also the only runner to score that didn't compete in the fastest heat. The final heat saw Corey Carter take second place with a season best time of 7.06 seconds.
After the shortest sprint, it was time for the longest, the 400 meter dash. Two Principia men were entered in the first heat. Chuy de la Cruz had run one 400 before, but this time he broke the one minute mark by finishing in 59.09. For his first ever open 400, Chris Mwaura not only beat everyone in his heat, but also everyone in the second heat (which was supposed to be faster) and placed seventh overall, narrowly missing a spot in the standings with a time of 54.74. Dean took that spot running in the third heat, as he placed sixth with a time of 54.33.
After the 400, four distance runners toed the line for the 800. Running in the first heat, E.G. Pierce showed why he deserved to be in the faster heat as he easily bested everyone in his heat with a 2:08 and a full five seconds over second place in his heat. He even beat three people in the fastest heat, as he finished in sixth place overall. In the second heat, Abe Ott, ran a courageous race by going for his best time instead of running a strategic race that would put him in the best position to possibly win. He led for about 790 meters before being passed by a Greenville runner. Finishing in 2:00.44, he did get his lifetime indoor best by a full second and 1.5 seconds better than his previous flat track effort. Nathan Babcock ran in fifth place for the first half of the race, but ran faster the second half of the race to finish third overall and a new lifetime indoor best of 2:01.92. This was a two second improvement from a few weeks ago. Quinn Heinbaugh improved his running strategy from the last time he raced this event and finished in fourth with a 2:02.57. This was a four second improvement from a few weeks ago and a full second better than his lifetime best including outdoor times!
More good stuff was still to come for many runners as the 200 meter dash got underway. The first heat found three Principia men soaring to new heights. Mar set another PR with a 27.67 which was another half second drop in time. Alberto Montero continued to drop his best times running another PR by .37 seconds as he crossed in 28.36 seconds. Chuy de la Cruz ran his first ever 200 in 26.56. Running in heat two, Juan Parks improved his lifetime best by .67 seconds as he crossed in 26.29. Juniour Baraza won the third heat and set a new PR with a 24.2 second time. Chris Mwaura was right behind in 24.51 which missed his PR by .01 seconds. In heat 4, Joey Onyechi ran 23.49 and into fourth place on Principia's all-time list. He passed Mitchell Gill who now moves to fifth best all-time and Jake Meier who moves to sixth. Corey Carter was in the final heat. Running in lane six Corey was passed in the final 75 meters by Webster's Jacob Ridenhour who finished runner-up to Corey at outdoor nationals. Corey's time of 22.56 did not move him up the national standings. In total, there were 21 men ran the 200 and eight of them were Principia runners. Six of our men set new PR's!
The final event was the 4x400. We had two teams in this race. The B-Team consisted of Joey starting the race and for the first time ever, running a distance over 200 meters. He passed the baton to Juniour, who also ran over 200 meters for the first time. Juniour passed a runner from Spalding to move the team up a place. Quinn got the baton third and ran the third fastest split between both Principia's A and B teams with a 53.86 split. Abe brought the baton home as the B-team finished in fourth out of five teams. The A-Team was led off by Wisdom running his first ever 400 meters. He handed off to Nathan who ran the second fastest split for both Prin teams with a solid 52.8. Corey ran the anchor leg, but was unable to move the team to second place as he ran a 52.38 second split. Only 2.59 seconds separated first through third place with Principia's A-team finishing in third.
At the end of the day, Principia finished in third place behind runner-up Webster and the SLIAC champion Greenville men. Beyond the team standings, what an incredible day with 14 new indoor PR's, along with eight athletes competing for the first time at a new distance, and one season best time!
Next Up
That is the end of the indoor season for most of the men's team. Corey and Coach Robert Baker will assess the best strategy for Corey's success at outdoor nationals in determining if Corey will race one more time indoors the first weekend in March. The next competition for the whole team will be March 21 at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA at the end of spring break.
