photos by Vania Arthur
Freshman Shaun Berry prepares for a leap in the triple
jump at the Slippery Rock University Open.
Point Park’s women jumpers huddles up before competing.
The men’s and women’s track teams competed in rainy weather conditions last Thursday, April 2, in the Slippery Rock University Open held in Slippery Rock, Pa. at the Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
However, that did not slow them down.
This was the first ever Thursday meet for the Pioneers, making the quickest turnaround, limiting practice time after just competing at West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcat Invitational on March 28. The meet was close to home with the men’s team finishing second and women’s seventh, according to Track and Field Results Reporting System (tfrrs.org).
Despite the spring showers and two-hour delay, distance runners on both teams were one of the highlights at the meet, setting new school and personal records and seconds shy of first place finishes. Freshman Eric Torres placed second in the men’s 5,000-meter run with an outdoor school record time of 15:56.
“I dropped 30 seconds from my previous 5K time that was very exciting,” Torres said on April 5 in the Lawrence Hall lounge. “I felt really accomplished. We only had three days to train so to make that much of a difference from Saturday to Thursday was great.”
Torres, who’s preparing to run his first 10K in a couple weeks, was just four seconds behind first place winner Daniel Christiansen of Grove City. Fellow teammate sophomore Heath Hougas finished sixth with a time of 16:44.
Freshman Katie Guarnaccia had another solid showing in the women’s 5,000-meter run, placing second with a time of 18:44. Guarnaccia built a lead early on and was side-by-side the winner of the race for the first couple of laps according to Point Park’s Athletics website.
Junior Kelsey Wilkins led the Pioneers in the women’s 1,500-meter run finishing ninth overall with a time of five minutes and 16 seconds. Freshman teammates Mckenzie Wilson and Alexis Sherman came in 14th and 16th place, respectively.
“I ran three seconds faster than I did the week before and the conditions were a lot worse,” Sherman said. “It was really windy and pouring down rain.”
The former hurdler in high school, now distance runner, said she hopes to run under six minutes by the end of the season in the 1,500-meter. She has already knocked off 21 seconds in the event from her indoor best.
“About 50 meters before the finish line, my coach was standing there screaming, ‘You’re at six minutes right now, you have to go!’ I gave all that I had left at that point to try to break 6:14 what I ran the previous week,” Sherman said. “When I crossed the finish line and found out my time and I set a PR [Personal Record], I was really happy.”
In the jumping events, senior Vianka Cotton, who’s also a basketball athlete and joined the team during the outdoor season, led Point Park in both the women’s long and triple jumps. Cotton leaped at 4.68 meters in the long jump and 10.19 meters in the triple, setting a new school record and personal best.
Shaun Berry led the Pioneers in all the men’s jumping events. The freshman finished second with a new personal best in the high jump, leaping at 1.80 meters.
De’Anthony Morgan, freshman sprinter, competed in the men’s 100 and 200 coming, in at 11.39 and 23.58 seconds, respectively.
Point Park will compete next on April 11 at the Westminster College Invitational in New Wilmington, Pa.
