ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men’s and women’s track and field teams competed Friday (Jan. 8) in the Grand Valley State University Early Bird Invitational.

Both teams competed very well having 20 combined athletes finish in the top three on the day. On the men’s side, freshman Tyler Grob (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney HS) kicked the meet by earning a first place finish in the heptathlon scoring a total of 4412 points. Grob would later tie for first in the pole vault with a height of 13’ 1.5”. Junior Scott Chevalier (Ann Arbor, Mich./Dexter HS) earned a first place finish in the 60-meter dash timing in at 6.92 as well as placing third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.47. Middle distance runner Tony Filipek (Caro, Mich./Kingston HS) earned a provisional qualifying time of 1:52.49 in the 800-meter run placing him first overall. Senior Steve Genther (Laingsburg, Mich./Laingsburg HS) placed first in the 3,000-meter run timing in at 8:49, and also earned a third place finish in the mile, crossing the line with a final time of 4:18. The 4x400-meter relay team consisting of freshman Tony Rasch (Perry, Mich./Perry HS) and seniors Ben Richards (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS), Tony Filipek, and Charlie Richards (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS) earned first place with a time of 3:25. Charlie Richards would also place second in the 800-meter run timing in at 1:54. Senior Derek Stone (Metamora, Mich./Lapeer East HS) placed second in the mile with a final time of 4:17. In the weight throw, sophomore Brian Bott (Buckley, Mich./Kingsley HS) placed second with a toss of 48’ 11”. Earning a third place finish in the shot-put was freshman Kane Dietzel (Twining, Mich./Whittemore-Prescott HS) with a toss of 45’ 11.75”.

On the women’s side, sophomore Ashley Meyer (Shepherd, Mich./Shepherd HS) would earn a first place finish in the 800-meter run timing in at 2:25 as well as finishing third in the mile with a time of 5:24. Freshman Sara Jones (Ortonville, Mich./Brandon HS) also earned a first place finish in the high jump with a leap of 4’ 11.75”. Senior transfer Katie Scott (Mitchell, Ont./Mitchell District HS) earned two second place finishes, one in the mile with a time of 5:23 and the other in the 3,000 with a time of 10:45. Also earning a second place finish was freshman Erica Marsh (Litchfield, Mich./Litchfield HS) throwing the weight a distance of 42’ 11.75”. Sophomore transfer Elizabeth Willford (Gladwin, Mich./Gladwin HS) would earn a third place finish in the pole vault with a height of 10’ 11.75”. Finishing out the meet was the 4x400-meter relay team that finished third crossing the line at 4:21, and consisted of freshman Alanah Pietryga, sophomores Elizabeth Willford and Ashley Meyer, and junior Alycia Wright (Macomb, Mich./Lutheran North HS).

The men’s and women’s track and field teams will be back in action again at 3:00pm Friday, January 15 when they host the SVSU “Doug Hansen” Open.