On Saturday, Point Park’s track and field teams came back successful, with students placing in the meet and joining the ranks of school record-holders. Both men and women participated in the Jud Logan Memorial Meet held in Kent, Ohio, at Kent State University.
Allison Plassio, a graduate student that specializes in mid-distance running, headlined the track and field team. Plassio placed first in the women’s 1,000-meter race with a time of 3:07. Lotte Zethof joined Plassio in the top five with a time of 3:17.
Cassondra O’Connor continues to make waves in the running game with this meet, placing third in the 3,000 with a time of 10:11. This time ranks O’Connor as the third-fastest time in school history.
Dunya Van den Tooren, a first-year that concentrates on hurdles, finished off the women’s record-making performance. She placed fourth place at the meet with a high jump of 1.58 meters. This is the third longest high jump distance in school history.
“For my first competition for Point Park, it was quite an experience,” Van den Tooren said. “I learned a lot from my coaches, teammates and competitors during this meet,”
Van den Tooren shared that she will compete in the Dr. Sander Scorcher Invitational later this month in New York City. Her event will include the high jump, long jump, 400 and 4×400.
“I am trying to take with me what I learned last competition,” Van den Tooren said. “It is an honor to compete with this school in such a big competition.”
As for the men’s track and field team, Akeem Mustapha, a sophomore who specializes in sprints/ and jumps, broke his own Point Park record with his long jump. Mustapha placed second in the long jump with 7.45 meters. He also placed sixth in the triple jump with 13.24 meters.
Mustapha will join Van den Tooran at the invitational in New York this weekend.
“I’m proud of my performance this past weekend, but it wasn’t the best of weekends, and I’ll work on having a better week next week,” Mustapha said. “For this weekend, I’m just going to work on the little things with my coaches for different events and try to do the same thing I do every week.”
Luke McKenna, a sophomore specializing in distance running, placed 13th in the 3,000 with a time of 8:50. This is the second fastest time in school history.
Kamar Sutherland, a first-year concentrated on hurdles, placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries with a time of 8.33 seconds. This is also the second-best time in school history for this event.
Chase Bowen, a first-year focused on distance running, placed 11th in the mile run with a time of 4:25 – the fourth fastest in school history.
“I feel happy about [the run] but it felt like I could give even more,” Bowen said. “I’m not satisfied because there is always more work to do, and I know I’m capable of running or possibly breaking 4:20 in the mile.”
Bowen qualified to travel to New York on Friday, Jan. 24, for an invitational and plans on working on his confidence running the mile among the other competitors.
“I qualified to go to the Armory in NYC and I’m very excited for the opportunity but also nervous,” Bowen said. “Depending on what my heat is like, I have a solid kick towards the end of the mile, and I like to use that to my advantage.”
Lastly, Point Park placed second in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:25. This was accomplished by runners Christian Reid, Juan Barrera, Sutherland, Steve Bradley and Jannik Windelband.
Both track and field teams are headed to an eventful weekend at the Dr. Sander Scorcher Invitational in Bronx, New York on Friday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Jan. 25.
The teams will be traveling from invitational to invitational on Saturday, as they head to the Ashland Collegiate Invitational in Ashland, Ohio the same day.
