ASHLAND, Ohio -- A trio of SVSU Men's Track & Field student-athletes kicked-off their competition weekend on Wednesday (May 2) at the 2018 GLIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. This year's event is being hosted by Ashland University. 

The three individuals competing on Wednesday were Andrew Mudd, Sam Black and Joseph Thwing. They began the decathlon with the first five events and are looking to repeat their performance at the indoor championships, where they finished 1-2-3. 

Those three remain in that same order after the first five events, as Mudd is the Wednesday leader with 3,864 points. Black is just 22 points behind, totaling 3,842 for SVSU. Thwing is in the third slot with 3,380. 

Mudd had the most points of the field while taking the top spot in three events. He was 1st in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.00 seconds to rack-up 861 points. The long jump was another, where he had a 7.21 meter leap for 864 points. In the 400 meter dash, he was 1st while totaling 796 points with a time of 50.40 seconds. 

Black was the top finisher in the high jump portion, clearing the bar at a height of 2.00 meters to earn 803 points. He finished with the second-best total in three other events; the 400 (50.81), shot put (13.33 m) and long jump (6.77 m). 

Thwing posted the top point total in the shot put, earning 693 points with his distance of 13.43 meters. His next best finish was in the long jump, with him posting a distance of 6.45 meters to finish 3rd and get 686 points. 

Up Next...

The Cardinals will continue with the second day of the championships on Thursday. The men will finish the decathlon, beginning at 9:00 a.m. with the 110 hurdles. Their final event is the 1,500 meter at 3:10 p.m. Field events begin at 2:30 p.m., as do the running events. Stay tuned here and on the SVSU Track & Field schedule for live results for the entire meet. 

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