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May 09, 2006
Four athletes take titles at Meet of the UnSaintly
Just under two months ago the mens track squad began their season with a bang. The team has steamrolled through their schedule to this point, and they don’t show signs of stopping.
As a team they’ve made respectable showings at each of their meets, but it’s stand-out individual performances that have been the story of the year.
The Meet of the UnSaintly May 6 at St. Thomas, and the MIAC Multi-event Championships, held May 4-5 at Carleton, both played themselves out in much the same way as the rest of Hamline’s season.
Junior Phil Brondyke lead the pack, setting a new school record with a personal best score of 5,409 points in the MIAC decathalon on Saturday.
“I was pleased with the success that I had and thankful to all the coaches who helped me,” said Brondyke.
The decathalon is comprised of the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter dash, 110 high hurtles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1,500-meter run with about 30 minutes between each event.
Junior Jake Kruger and senior Jake Courrier both made strong showings as well. The two earned NCAA provisional marks in their respective field events.
Courrier had a solid day in the shotput competition. He threw a new outdoor personal best with a distance of 49’ 11.75”. Courrier also extended his provisional mark in the discus throw to 158’. A provisional mark makes an athlete eligible for competition at the national meet but does not guarantee it. In order to be automatically qualified for nationals, an athlete must earn an even higher score than the provisional mark.
Kruger captured the pole vaulting title on with a jump of 15’6.5”, a height that earned him a provisional national qualification.
The team of Adam Lehner, Steve Dupic, Shawn Smith and Jason Engdal also captured first place at the Meet of the UnSaintly in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:22.90. The time comes close to beating the team’s personal best record in the outdoor season.
Hamline’s other win came in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. First-year Jon Murphy took the last of Hamline’s titles for the day in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:53.84. Unlike the usual L shaped hurtles, steeplechase hurtles are shaped like an upside down T, so they don’t tip when hit by a runner.
The field eventers had another strong showing for the Pipers. The javelin crew of Dan Sullivan, John Thorson, and Dave Strochkirch finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the event. Sullivan recorded the best mark for Hamline with a throw of 153’7”. He didn’t break his personal best, but it was enough for a strong second place. His best throw of the year was at the Hamline invite. Sullivan also took second at the Macalester Invitational. Sullivan hopes to score at this weekend’s MIAC Conference Championships.
“I’ll hopefully get 5th or 6th,” said Sullivan. “There seems to be some pretty good competition this year.”
Junior Drew Jones set a new bar for himself, hitting a personal best in the hammer throw with his toss of 158’1”.
Brandon Johnson finished third in the long jump competition with a leap of 19’8”.
Though the Pipers had more wins on the field than on the track, senior hurdler Josh Johnson proved he was not to be counted out. Johnson set new personal bests in both the 400-meter and 110-meter hurdle events. His 110-meter time of 16.08 was enough to earn him a fourth place finish for the day.
The decathalon is the first scheduled event of the 2006 MIAC Championships. The Pipers will compete in the remainder of the events on May 12 and 13 at St. Thomas.
Posted by dwright at May 9, 2006 05:22 PM
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