By Bryson Hartzler

The Bluffton University Track and Field program traveled to the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University to compete in the Marv Frye Invitational on Saturday, April 6. The meet was comprised of several Division II and Division III schools from around the area. The Beavers ended the day with several qualifying standards as well as personal bests.

Jeff Parker (Bristol, Ind./Northridge) was the sole event winner on the day in the men’s javelin for the second week in a row. Parker’s throw of 163-9 bested the field of more than 30 athletes. Parker followed his javelin performance with a strong showing in the long jump as well, leaping to a personal-best 20-1.

Teammate Calib Alexander (Ocala, Fla./St. John Lutheran) tried his hand at long jump this weekend, posting a jump of 20-7 in his first appearance in the event. Alexander flourished in the 100m dash as well, posting a season-best time of 11.17 to finish 5th in the field. Both performances qualified him for the HCAC and All-Ohio championships.

Alexander also anchored the 4x100 which consisted of Joel Schmidt (Berne, Ind./South Adams), AJ Ehresman (Attica/Seneca East) and Josh Mattoon (Rawson/Cory-Rawson), that took 8th on the day with a seasonal-best time.

Other qualifiers on the day came from the women’s 800 where freshman Nichole Peterman (Killbuck/West Holmes) improved on her season-best time, dropping to a 2:25.52. Teammate Alison Janzen (Whitewater, Kan./Remington) also showed her tremendous range, qualifying in the 800 as well as the 1500.

Janzen’s time of 2:30.63 qualifies her for the HCAC championship while her 1500 time of 5:08.30 is a conference and All-Ohio qualifier. Janzen has now posted conference qualifiers in the 800, 1500, 5k and 10k.

In the men’s 1500 it was the tandem of Zachary Smith (West Unity/Hilltop) and Colin McCloskey (Sylvania/Northview) leading the way for the Beavers with a pair of conference and All-Ohio qualifiers. Smith would finish ahead of McCloskey with a time of 4:08.31, improving on his time from last week. McCloskey finished with a time of 4:12.63. Smith came back to win his heat of the men’s 800 with a PR time of 2:02.35.

Other personal bests on the day came from multiple event areas. Martin Russ (Rocky River) improved his time in the 3k steeplechase, finishing just shy of All-Ohio qualifying with a time of 10:27.58. In the women’s 5k, the freshman duo of Demi Snider (Kenton) and Tara Murphy (Westerville/Thomas Worthington) both finished with personal bests on the day.

Josh Mattoon ran a personal-best time in the open 400 as well as anchoring the 4x400 team of Smith, McCloskey and Schmidt that finished with a season-best time. In the sprints, AJ Ehresman had two PR’s on the day in the 100 as well as the 200. In the throwing arena, Justin Yingst (Houston) had a large improvement in the shot put, ending the day with a throw of 43-1.5. Alex Parker (Alger/Upper Scioto Valley), Chase Walters (Convoy/Crestview) and Tyler Keefer (Fayette) all heaved personal bests in the javelin.

Coach Brandt was pleased with the continuing all around success from her young team. “It is such a pleasure to work with a group of athletes like this. Every meet has its high and low points, but when your athletes produce so many best performances or qualifications, and put forth such positive efforts, as a coach you tend not to focus on the lows. Attitude, hard work and determination are key ingredients to success and this team has them in abundance.”

A small contingent of Beavers will head back to Ohio Wesleyan this weekend to compete in the All-Ohio Championships on Saturday.