The Eastern Michigan University’s men’s track and field team headed to Knoxville, Tenn. to participate in the Tennessee Relays presented by Sea Ray, April 10-12.
The 45-team meet, hosted by the University of Tennessee, took place on the Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium. The Green and White had much success at the meet as numerous athletes recorded personal-bests in their third outdoor meet of the 2014 season.
Senior Donald Scott broke the 15-year-old EMU record in the triple jump previously held by Juris Vaskans. Scott outleapt the past record by over six inches with a leap of 16.07 meters (52 feet 8.75 inches), which extended Scott’s triple jump reign over both the indoor and outdoor record books. The Mid-American Conference, on April 15, announced that Scott was also named Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week.
“Collectively, we had a very good weekend of track and field, certainly highlighted by Donald Scott’s new EMU school record in the triple jump,” EMU coach John Goodridge said.
A pair of Eagles also claimed victories on the track. In the 1500m distance event, senior Gregzorz Kalinowski ran a 3:45.33 to win the race by a margin of over two seconds.
In the sprints, junior Cameron Bolton ran a personal best 21.05 to win the 200m dash.
Senior Chris Scott followed Bolton, also with a personal best, with a sixth place finish in 21.46.
Scott also competed in the 100m dash, finishing .01 seconds behind his personal-best time.
Bolton went on to run the 400m dash along with sophomore Jason Ervin and 2014-Mid-American Conference 400m Championfreshman Tyler Brown. Both Brown and Bolton finished the race in the top-10.
The Eagles continued their success on the track as redshirt junior Harry Dixon finished runner-up in the 5000m with a time of 14:32.84. In middle-distance, sophomore Scott Bradley ran the 800m in 1:57.88. Sophomore Bryce Lindsey paced the Green and White in both the 110m and 400m hurdles, taking sixth in the 110h, just .01 seconds off a personal-best, with a time of 14.46 and eighth in the 400h with a personal-best of 55.42.
EMU took part in three throwing events, led by a pair of personal-bests from sophomore Travis Harris. Harris threw for a distance of 49.38 meters (162 feet) in the discus throw and hurled the shot put 16.28 meters (53 feet 5.00 inches) for sixth and 12th place finishes, respectively.
In the hammer throw, junior Keith Williams finished in the top 10 with a throw of 56.19 meters (184 feet 4 inches).
Continuing with the success from the first two days of competition, the Eagles started off strong in the first event of the last day of the event.
Sophomore Willy Fink and redshirt junior Daryl Smith finished 1-2 in the 3000m steeplechase with times of 9:03.30 and 9:12.91, respectively.
In the 4×100m relay, the team of Bolton, sophomore Jeff Elam, Scott and Brown took second in 40.42, a mere .09 seconds behind the winning team from MAC opponent Kent State University.
Success also came for the Green and White in the distance medley relay and the 4×400m relay. The DMR team of Smith, Fink, Kalinowski and sophomore Jason Ervin claimed the final victory of the day with a time of 9:55.11. The 4×400m relay team of Bolton, Brown, Elam and sophomore Mason Waynes took runner-up in 3:08.35.
On the field in the final day of competition, senior Aaron Benton and sophomore James O’Shea competed in the high jump. Benton cleared a height of 2.10 meters (6 feet 10.75 inches), which tied for the ninth-best mark in EMU history.
O’Shea notched a personal-best, jumping 2.05 meters (6 feet 8.75 inches). In the long jump, Brown placed in the top-10 with a leap of 7.12 meters (23 feet 4.50 inches). Closing out the event, junior Solomon Ijah finished seventh in the javelin throw with a personal-best launch of 62.73 meters (205 feet 10 inches).
“Willy Fink’s steeplechase win in his collegiate debut in the event was very encouraging as well as our initial outdoor results by our 4×100, 4×400, and distance medley relays, Aaron Benton’s 6’10” high jump, Tyler Brown’s 47.10 400 and 23’4” long jump, Travis Harris’s 162’ discus, Gregorz Kalinowski’s winning 1500m in 3:45.33, Solomon Ijah’s 206’ javelin and Jeff Elam winning the 400 intermediate hurdles,” Goodridge said.
He went on to say, “This weekend will see very strong competition as EMU will be represented at the world famous Mount SAC Relays in Walnut, CA and the Jessie Owen’s Invitational at Ohio State.”
The Eagles will travel to Columbus, Ohio for their next competition. The Green and White will compete in the Jesse Owens Classic at Ohio State University, April 18-19.
Several athletes, including Donald Scott, Gregorz Kalinowski, and Tyler Brown will be headed to Walnut, Calif. to compete in the Mount SAC Relays on April 18.
