TIFFIN, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University men's and women's track & field teams competed in day one of the 2016 GLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday (Feb. 27), hosted at Tiffin University's Heminger Center. The women's team is tied for ninth place after the first day of competition and the men sit in third with just 10 events complete for the championships.
Robert Tarpley highlighted Saturday's performances for SVSU, as he took home first place in the long jump, leaping to a new school indoor record distance of 7.47 meters, which is an NCAA Provisional qualifying mark. Teammate Robert Atwater finished fourth in the same event with a personal best and provisional distance of 7.27 meters. The two combined to score 15 of the Cardinals' 20 points so far in the championships in the long jump.
D'Omar Boyden qualified for finals and placed second with a time of 8.33 in the preliminaries of the 60 meter hurdles.
In the 400 meter dash, Ce'Aira Richardson qualified for the finals with a fourth place finish, crossing the line at 57.68. Ola Hendler also qualified for finals after following in sixth place at a time of 57.84.
In the men's 400 meter dash, Shawn Stewart qualified for finals and took eighth with a time of 50.56 seconds.
Dominque Smith will also be competing in the finals for the 200 meter dash after qualifying in the prelims with a ninth place finish at a time of 25.73.
Eddie Komph took sixth place in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 14:56.18. Tristan Fackelman finished 11th in the race at 15:21.56, followed by Clyde Anderson in 12th at 15:23.89.
In the women's 5,000 meter run, Allison Dorr placed eighth, posting a time of 18:11.62. Christina Micale recorded an 11th place finish in 18:15.08.
The team of Emily Short, DeAnna Stickler-Gatson, Brittany Johnson, Taylor Stepanski took third in the distance medley relay with a final time of 12:02.05.
The men's DMR team of Parker Eisengruber, Noah VanderVeeen, Ryan Silvestri, and Joey Southgate notched a seventh place finish with a time of 10:30.40.
Devin Hartnagle finished 19th in the weight throw with a best distance of 16.47 meters. Emerald Joiner posted a 13th place finish for the women with a final distance of 17.08 meters.
Bria Williams finished runner up in the women's 60 meter hurdles pentathon with a personal best time of 8.94. She recorded a ninth place finish in the long jump 1.51 meters.
In the men's heptathon events, Andrew Mudd finished second in the 60 meter dash posting a time of 7.20, third in the high jump, crossing the bar at 2.00 meter and fifth in ths shot put, throwing a best distance of 12.18 meters.
Sam Black posted a seventh place finish in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.36 and in the long jump with a final distance of 6.15 meters. Black finished second in the high jump, notching a height of 2.04 meters and eighth in shot put with a throw of 11.19 meters.
Sidney Bischer posted a sixth place finish in the long jump pentathon, recording a distance of 1.54 meters.
The teams are back in action on Sunday (Feb. 28) for day two of the championships. The men's heptathlon gets the meet underway at 9:00 am, followed by field events at 10:30 am. Running events will begin at 12:10 pm in Tiffin.
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