Rio men pummel competition, cruise to RSC indoor title
Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
MARIETTA, Ohio - There's domination and then there's what the University of Rio Grande did to its fellow River States Conference members during Saturday afternoon's Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship at Marietta College's Dyson Baudo Recreation Center.
The RedStorm won the first relay, the last relay and numerous events in between to cruise to the conference title, logging a staggering 313 points as a team.
Head coach Matt Paxton, who captured RSC Coach of the Year honors, saw his team score more points in distance events alone - 126 - than any other team in the conference scored points over the course of the entire meet.
Rio Grande also won the women's portion of the meet, marking the first time in program history that both the men and the women captured indoor titles in the same season.
Shawnee State University finished as the runner-up with 122 points, while Indiana University Kokomo finished third at 110 points.
Individually, junior Tyler Jenkins (Barnesville, OH) led Rio's winning effort, earning Track Athlete of the Year honors. He won the mile-run (4:20.07) and 3,000-meter races (8:36.68) and added a silver medal finish (14:53.88) behind freshman teammate Duncan Kogei (Eldoret, Kenya) in the 5,000-meter run (14:50.28).
The times for Kogei and Jenkins both hit the "B" qualifying standard for the upcoming NAIA National Championship, which is set for Feb. 27-March 1 in Gainesville, Fla.
Jenkins' two gold medals powered a Rio Grande medal haul that included nine total gold medals, including seven in individual events and two in relays (the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays).
Shawnee State's Luke Rader was named both the RSC Newcomer of the Year and Field Athlete of the Year. He led all male athletes with three gold medals, winning the long jump, triple jump, and the 55 meter hurdles.
Jenkins and Rader were the lone athletes to win multiple individual gold medals, with several athletes adding relay gold to their individual gold.
In addition to Jenkins and Kogei, Rio Grande also received first-place finishes individually from sophomore Troy Mason (Grenville, Grenada), who won the 200-meter title in a time of 21.89; junior Trevon Houston (Cleveland, OH), who won the 400-meter run in a time of 51.81; sophomore Kasy Science (Marietta, OH), who won the 800-meter run with an effort of 1:59.84; and freshman John Young (Leroy, OH), who finished out in front in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:34.11.
Mason's time hit the "B" qualifying standard.
Rio's champion 4x400 relay team, which posted a time of 3:29.96, was comprised of Houston, junior Spencer Harris (Gallipolis, OH), graduate senior Chase McClay (McDermott, OH) and Mason.
The 4x800 relay unit, which hit the national "A" qualifying time by finishing in 7:50.74, included Young, Science, sophomore Ashton Beverly (Chillicothe, OH) and graduate senior Kyle Lightner (Peebles, OH).
The RedStorm's litany of individual scoring performances included Lightner, who was second in the mile run at 4:21.07, third in the 800 at 2:00.56 and sixth in the 600 with a time of 1:25.79; junior Daunevyn Woodson (Gallipolis, OH), who finished second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6:50, second in the long jump with a leap of 6.69m and third in the 200 with a time of 22.58; Mason, who was second in the 400 with a time of 52:00 and fifth in the 55-meter after crossing in 6.64; Houston, who was second in the 200 with a mark of 22.50 and seventh in the 55-meter dash with an effort of 7.30; Harris, who placed second in the high jump with an effort of 1.91m, third in the long jump at 6.56m and fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.79; sophomore Rowen Gerlach (New Haven, WV) , who placed second in the shot put with a toss of 15.82m and seventh in the weight throw at 14.38m; Young, who was second in the 800 with a time of 2:00.55; sophomore Zach Whitley (Wheelersburg, OH), who was second in the 3,000-meter race walk with a time of 13:28.59; Kogei, who was second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:37.33; freshman Dalton Ferguson (Huntington, WV), who was second in the 55-meter hurdles with a finish of 8.01; Beverly, who was third in the 1,000-meter run with an effort of 2:36.33 and fourth in the 800 with a finish of 2:00.61; McClay, who took third place in the 400 with a time of 52:07 and seventh in the 600 at 1:26.35; freshman Wes Taylor (Lancaster, OH), who was third in the 600-meter run after crossing in 1:24.88, sixth in the mile at 4:28.32 and eighth in the 1,000-meter with a time of 2:36.63; junior Mugisha Pomossene (Dayton, OH), who was third in the 3,000-meter race walk with a mark of 15:04.43; senior Andrew Skaggs (Minford, OH), who was fourth in the triple jump with an effort of 12.59m, fifth in the 55-meter hurdles at 8.11 and sixth in the long jump at 6.24m; Science, who was fourth in the 600 with a time of 1:24.88; freshman Bryson Smith (Frankfort, OH), who was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 6.49m and seventh in the triple jump with an effort covering 12.32m; freshman Logen Justice (Lancaster, OH), who was fourth in the high jump at 1.91m; senior Marshall Jackson (Zanesfield, OH), who took fourth place in the weight throw with a toss of 15.35m; junior Hunter Blagg (Pedro, OH), who was fifth in the triple jump at 12.53m and seventh in the pole vault after clearing 3.45m; senior Ryan Weber (Bidwell, OH), who was sixth in the weight throw at 14.65m; senior Danuel Persinger (Glouster, OH), who placed seventh in the 3,000 with a time of 8:52.09 and eighth in the 5,000-meter run at 15:27.20; and sophomore JJ Larue (Chillicothe, OH), who grabbed eighth place in the 1,000-meter with a mark of 2:41.16.
Whitley's time in the race walk hit the national "A" qualifying standard and Pomossene's effort in the same event found the "B" standard.
Rio's Distance Medley Relay team - which included freshman Anton Meinlschmidt (Weibeyoke, Germany), freshman Anthony Portis, Jr. (Huber Heights, OH), Larue and Taylor - was second with a time of 10:48.36.
A complete list of national qualifiers will be announced later this week.