The Eastern Michigan men’s track team had a strong performance at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Jan. 14.
Four Eagles placed in the top-ten in the 60m prelims, as junior Leighton Antonio finished first with a time of 6.92 sec., a personal best, sophomore Tyler Underwood finished third with a time of 6.99 sec., junior Brandon Bolden finished seventh overall with a time of 7.05 seconds, and freshman Sean Beckom finished tenth with a time of 7.12 seconds. Antonio, Underwood, and Bolden all earned spots in the 60m finals, where Antonio finished first with a time of 6.92 seconds, tying his new personal best, and Bolden finished sixth with a time of 7.03 seconds.
In the 200m dash, Brandon Bolden finished in fourth place with a time of 22.8 sec. Three other Eagles had top-ten finishes in the 200m dash, as freshman Devonte Findlay finished eighth with a time of 23.53 sec, Sean Beckom finished ninth with a time of 23.61 sec, and freshman Ivan Suazo finished in tenth place with a time of 24.13 sec. Three Eagles finished in the top-ten in the 400m dash, as Tyler Underwood finished sixth with a time of 50.99 sec, freshman Trevor Marcus finished seventh with a time of 51.54 sec, and sophomore Elijah Barber finished tenth with a time of 52.08 sec.
In the 600m run, four Eagles finished in the top-ten. Junior Tom Jozwiak finished in second place with a time of 1:23.34, Daniel Kuhn finished fourth with a time of 1:23.85, junior Csaba Matko finished fifth with a time of 1:24.55, and freshman Roderic Wilson finished sixth with a time of 1:25.75. Two Eagles had top-ten finishes in the 800m run, as sophomore Nick McFarland finished in fourth place with a time of 1:57.73, a personal best, and junior Caleb Hess finished sixth with a time of 2:01.56. Sophomore Colin Burdette had a strong showing in the 300m run, as he finished in sixth place with a time of 9:18.09.
In the 60m hurdles prelims, four Eagles placed in the top ten. Frank Douglas finished seventh overall with a time of 8.43 and Devonte Findlay finished eighth overall with a time of 8.50 sec, both earning spots in the 60m hurdles finals. Ivan Suazo finished ninth with a time of 8.51 sec, and Drew Lament finished tenth with a time of 8.69 sec, a personal best. In the 60m hurdles finals, Douglas finished third with a time of 8.20 and Findlay finished seventh with a time of 8.35 sec, a new personal best. In the 4x400m relay, the group of Barber, Marcus, Douglas, Findlay finished in fourth place with a time of 3:29.31.
In the high jump, sophomores Cameron Hart and Alex Jacobs finished in third and seventh, with jumps of 2.00m and 1.70m. In the pole vault, two Eagles finished in the top ten, as freshman Colin Etchen placed seventh with a mark of 4.60m and Alex Jacobs finished ninth with a mark of 4.45m. In the long jump, Eastern Michigan had two top-five finishers, as Cameron Hart finished in the top spot with a jump of 7.07m and sophomore Nick Herbert finished fifth with a jump of 6.75m. Sophomore Mike Peters took home the gold in the triple-jump with a mark of 14.55m, a personal best.
In the shot put event, Eastern Michigan had strong performances from sophomore Zach Purcilly, who finished in sixth place with a mark of 15.09m, and freshman Jannik Schmitt, who finished in ninth place with a mark of 14.11m. In the weight throw event, two Eagles finished in the top ten, as sophomore Austin Hazek finished in eighth place with a throw of 15.72m and sophomore Zach Harkey finished in ninth place with a throw of 14.87m.
The Eagles had strong showing with six top three finishes throughout the day. The Eagles hope to build off a strong showing as they host the EMU Triangular on Saturday, January 28th right here in Ypsilanti.
