VanMarter Places Third; Spicer in Seventh; UC Men’s 4x400 Meter Relay Places 13th
La Crosse, WI -- The track and field athletes took part in day one of the 2018 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships at the University of La Crosse-Wisconsin.
St. John Fisher senior
Mark VanMarter took part in the long jump event, while senior
Peter Girardi competed in the preliminary round of the 400-meter hurdles. Alfred University senior
Seth Spicer completed Day One of the decathlon and Utica's 4x400 meter relay team raced in the preliminaries.
VanMarter started out the day in the long jump event. He would first land a 7.49 meter best mark in the prelims and would head into the final portion of the competition in third place overall. He would then leap a season-best 7.55 meter leap to gather third place in the NCAA Division III Long Jump final.
Girardi came first and cruised to a first place finish in his 400-hurdle heat after he crossed the finish line in 52.32 seconds. The time marked the third best time across all heats and he will compete for a national title on Saturday afternoon.
Spicer currently represents Alfred University men's track & field in seventh place with a total of 3,445 points after five of his 10 events. He scored 789 points in the 400-meter dash, 687 in the high jump, 684 in the shot put, 653 in the 100-meter dash and 632 in the long jump.
Despite picking up the most points in the 400, Spicer distanced himself from the field the most during the shot put where he threw his second toss to a new personal best distance of 13.27m, topping everyone else by almost more than one meter. He also hit an outdoor best height in the high jump with a 1.87m mark (1.88m indoor best).
The Utica College men's 4x400 meter relay team placed 13
th overall with a time of 3:16.08 in the preliminaries. Utica placed seventh out of eight relays in the first of two heats and saw its season come to a close as the 13th ranked 4x400 meter relay team in the country.
Alex Luckoo and
Brenden Moore combined for a time of 1:37.610 in the first two legs.
Nicholas Proper broke 50 seconds in the third leg and handed the baton to junior
Kevin Gangemi (after 1200 meters with the Pioneers holding a cumulative time of 2:27.573. Gangemi was lighting quick down the stretch with a time of 48.99 in the fourth and final leg as the Pioneers came home with a final time of 3:16.08.
Luckoo, Moore, Proper and Gangemi became the first relay in program history to qualify for nationals after posting a school record time of 3:14.78 in the 4x400 meter relay at the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference Championships last week. UC won the 4x400 at the Empire 8 Championships this Spring and also placed second at regionals.
Fans can follow the action on Friday and Saturday by visiting the championship website at
http://www.uwlathletics.com/sports/2017/12/7/TRACK_0423131617.aspx