ASHLAND, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University men's and women's track and field squads competed in Day Two of the 2013 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships today (May 2).
Day Two at GLIACs featured the completion of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon, 16 preliminary events and 12 final heats. The SVSU men are currently in sixth place with 20 points with the Lady Cardinals sitting in 10th position after Thursday's festivities.
SVSU Men - 6th Place - 20 Points
After sleeping on a 41-point lead Wednesday night through five events, senior decathlete Tyler Grob (Pinckney, Mich.) increased his margin with runner-up finishes in the first two events on Thursday. Grob posted a time of 15.70 seconds in the 110 hurdles before hurling the discus 122-feet-2 inches to assert his dominance at the top of the standings.
In event No. 8 of 10, Tyler went up by over 400 points after finishing in the top spot of the pole vault after clearing 15-feet-9 inches. Grob then took third in the javelin throw with a heave of 146-feet-5 inches.
In the final event, Tyler Grob clinched the title finishing in first place in the 1500 meter run. Grob earned an NCAA Division II Automatic Qualifying mark for nationals with a total score of 7,024 points breaking both the GLIAC (1998: 6917 - Mike Stowe, GVSU) and SVSU (1995: 6786 - Dustin Snodgrass) records.
Grob now holds the Saginaw Valley State University school records in both the indoor heptathlon and the outdoor decathlon.
Senior Gareth Gose (Leslie, Mich.) posted a provisional qualifying mark of 9:17.28 in the 3000 meter steeplechase event as he completed the race with the fourth best time.
Sophomore Travis Toye (Davison, Mich.) earned his first NCAA DII Provisional Qualifying mark of the outdoor season notching a time of 1:52.85 in the 800 meter run to advance to the final heat in sixth place.Josh Arnold (Clio, Mich.) came in right behind Toye in seventh position.
Senior David Ray (Lansing, Mich. / Eastern) had yet another impressive showing in the 110 hurdles with a provisional qualifying time of 14.43 seconds, as he advanced to the finals in fifth place. In the same race, D'Omar Boyden (Portmore, Jamaica) also earned a provisional qualifying time of 14.63 in eighth place.
SVSU Women - 10th Place - 9 Points
On the women's side, Diamond Taylor (Southfield, Mich.) earned the top spot in the 400 meter prelims crossing the line in 56.45 seconds to register an NCAA Division II National Qualifying mark and advance to the finals on Friday. Ola Hendler (Lansing, Mich. / Grand Ledge) also qualified for the 400 meter finals in eighth place.
Taylor and her teammates - Shavonne Roberson (Ypsilanti, Mich.), Kim Balls (Bridgeport, Mich.) and Yanisha Edwards (Flint, Mich. / Northwestern) - also earned an NCAA DII Provo time in the 4x100 meter relay event advancing to the finals in 47.30 seconds.
Senior Lauren Hill (Flat Rock, Mich.) had another strong showing in the 3000 meter steeplechase competition finishing in third place with a time of 11:06.61, a DII provisional mark which she bested earlier this season.
Sophomore Jessica Reeves (Sanford, Mich. / Meridian) put some points on the board for the Lady Cardinals in the 10,000 meter distance event clocking in with a time of 38:21.94.
Emily Short (Tawas, Mich.) finished in fifth place in the 1500 meter run prelims, while Ashley Meyer (Shepherd, Mich.) also qualified for the finals in eighth place. Meyer also qualified for the finals of the 800 meter run in fifth place along with freshman Taylor Stepanski (Alpena, Mich.) who ended up one spot ahead of Meyer in fourth at 2:16.70.
Yanisha Edwards narrowly qualified for the finals of the 200 meter dash coming home in 24.79 seconds in eighth place.
Freshmen Sidney Bischer (Avoca, Mich. / Yale) and Paige Stepanski (Alpena, Mich.) finished in ninth and 10th positions, respectively, in the two-day women's heptathlon. Paige Stepanski's top performance was a third place finish in the 800 meter with a time of 2:23.85.
The SVSU track and field student-athletes will be back in action again tomorrow (May 3) for the final day of the 2013 GLIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Live Stats - 2013 GLIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships