Although the Malone University men’s track & field team sent just eight athletes to the NAIA Indoor National Championships in Johnson City, Tennessee March 4-6, these individuals were able to post an impressive fifth-place national finish among 48 men’s teams which scored points.  In addition, four Pioneer men’s athletes claimed NAIA All-America honors. The Pioneer men posted 27 total points for their fifth-place finish as Azusa Pacific (CA) University captured the men’s team title with 71 points.

The Malone women’s team sent 14 athletes of its own to the national meet but no one was able to score.  Oklahoma Baptist University won the women’s national title with 68 points, just one point ahead of runner-up Wayland Baptist (TX) University which had 67 points.

Chris Sinick (Sr., Field H.S.) captured two All-America accolades as he finished second in the 1000-meter finals in a time of 2:26.65 and placed third in the one-mile run finals in 4:11.90.  With his two All-American honors at the meet, Sinick now has a total of 10 NAIA All-America awards to his credit (two cross country, eight track & field), moving him into a three-way tie with Dave Gramlich (’05 grad) and Aaron Melhorn (Jr., Fairless H.S.), who also have 10 each, for most NAIA All-American honors by a Malone athlete.

Evan Gaynor (Jr., Delta H.S.) earned All-America honors in the 3000 meters as he earned a third-place finish in 8:23.75.  The accolade marked his third NAIA track & field All-American honor and fourth NAIA All-America award overall (including one in cross country.  Jason Rook (So., New Philadelphia H.S.) was the other All-American for the Malone men as he finished in a tie for second in the pole vault with a height of 16’ 4.75” to earn his second consecutive indoor pole vault NAIA All-America honor.

James Zeuch (Jr., Galion H.S.) and Paul Robinson (Sr., Field H.S.) both qualified for the 5000-meter finals but missed All-American honors by finishing ninth (15:04.79) and 11^th (15:21.24), respectively.

In the long jump prelims, Johnnie Legrair (So., Copley H.S.) posted a mark of 22’ 3” but did not advance to the finals.  In addition, Legrair competed in the 60-meter hurdle prelims and finished in a time of 8.53 seconds but did not advance to the finals.

Kyle Wagner (Fr., Green H.S.) competed in the heptathlon and finished in 13^th place overall with 4201 points.

For the Malone women, Sarah Hines (Sr., Northmor H.S.) qualified for the 5000-meter finals and finished 11^th in a time of 18:08.47.   Tynae Wilson (So., Fort Wayne, IN) and Brynn Chaskel (Fr., Liberty Benton H.S.) both competed in the 5000-meter prelims but did not advance to the finals, posting times of 18:31.45 and 19:34.35, respectively.

The distance medley relay team of Erin Bauer (So., Loveland H.S.), Amanda Theis (Jr., Seneca East H.S.), Kayleigh Bildstein (Jr., Madison H.S.) and Lindsey Pifher (Jr., Colonel Crawford H.S.) posted a time of 12:24.70 in the prelims, finishing just one spot out of qualifying for the finals (1.83 seconds from the final qualifying time).

The 4x800 meter relay team of Emily Grad (Jr., Field H.S.), Caitlin Sharp (So., East Canton H.S.), Becky Neitzel (So., Malvern H.S.) and Ashton Avery (So., Canton McKinley H.S.) posted a time of 9:27.28 in the prelims but did not advance.

In addition, Becky Rospotynski (Sr., Copley H.S.) competed in the pole vault but did not clear the opening height of 11’ 1.75”.

The Malone University men’s and women’s indoor track & field teams competed at the non-scoring Kent State University Tune-Up meet last Saturday as one school record was broken in the process as well as numerous NAIA indoor national meet qualifying times posted.

For the men, Chris Sinick (Sr., Field H.S.) posted a school-record time in the one-mile run at 4:09.74 (first place), which was also an NAIA national qualifying time.  The trio of Evan Gaynor (Jr., Delta H.S.), Paul Robinson (Sr., Field H.S.) and James Zeuch (Jr., Galion H.S.) also qualified by posting times of 8:21.61 (first place), 8:25.51 (second place) and 8:27.16 (fourth place) in the 3000 meters.

Other notable achievements for the men’s team included Jason Rook’s (So., New Philadelphia H.S.) third-place finish in the pole vault at 15’ 7” and Johnnie Legrair’s (So., Copley H.S.) fourth-place effort in the long jump at 23’ 2”.  Both of these marks were NAIA national qualifying marks as well.

For the women’s team, Sarah Hines (Sr., Northmor H.S.) qualified for the NAIA indoor national meet in the 3000 meters in a qualifying time of 10:28.39 (8^th place).  The top placement of the day for the women’s squad went to Melissa Wohlheter (Fr., Tuslaw H.S.) as she finished second in the 300-meter dash in 43.18 seconds.  In the 800 meters, Amanda Theis (Jr., Seneca East H.S.) finished eighth in 2:20.29 while Emily Grad (Jr., Field H.S.) placed 10^th in 2:20.74. 

Other noteworthy accomplishments for the women’s squad included the seventh (3:03.23), eighth (3:03.48) and ninth-place (3:04.10) finishes of Caitlin Sharp (So., East Canton H.S.), Erin Bauer (So., Loveland H.S.) and Kayleigh Bildstein (Jr., Madison H.S.), respectively, in the 1000 meters and also Laura Page’s (So., Stow-Munroe Falls H.S.) ninth-place effort in the pole vault at 10’ 8”.

The Malone University men’s indoor track & field team finished in third place among a 12-team field at the All-Ohio Indoor Championships at Bowling Green State University last Friday and Saturday while the Pioneer women’s team placed seventh among a nine-team women’s field.

The men’s team tallied 87 points for its third-place finish as Miami University captured the men’s team title with 176 points.  Ashland University was second (156), the University of Findlay took fourth (58) and Xavier University rounded out the top five (46).

The Malone women posted 34 points for their seventh-place finish as Miami also won the women’s team title with 177 points.  Bowling Green State finished second (124), Ashland took third (107), Ohio University was fourth (102) and Wright State University rounded out the top five (58).

For the men’s team, Chris Sinick (Sr., Field H.S.) won the one mile run (4:15.50), an NAIA qualifying mark, and finished second in the 800 meters (1:56.59).  Jason Rook (So., New Philadelphia H.S.) qualified in the pole vault with a 15’ 5.75” effort (second place) while James Zeuch (Jr., Galion H.S.) qualified for NAIA nationals in the one mile run ( 4:17.74; second place) and in the 3000 meters (8:38.19; fifth place).

Johnnie Legrair (So., Copley H.S.) also posted a victory for the Malone men as he took the long jump in 22’ 8.5”.  In addition, Legrair finished second in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.46 seconds. 

Other Malone men who finished in the top eight of their events included Steven Young (Jr., Gladstone, MO) in the triple jump (43’ 1”; second place), Evan Gaynor (Jr., Delta H.S.) in the 5000 meters (15:25.03; sixth), William Latta (Fr., Metuchen, NJ) in the 800 meters (2:00.31; eighth), Anthony Lombardi (Fr., Tuslaw H.S.) in the high jump (6’ 1.5”; fifth) and the men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Daniel Bridenstine (Fr., Jackson H.S.), Bryan Krieger (Sr., Cuyahoga Falls H.S.), Garrett Oliver (Sr., Benjamin Logan H.S.) and Sinick in a time of 3:30.12 (fifth).  In addition, three Malone heptathletes finished in the top eight – Kyle Wagner (Fr., Green H.S.) in third (4449 points), Shane McLaughlin (Sr., Caldwell H.S.) in sixth (4200 points) and Robert Balash (Fr., Norton H.S.) in eighth (3480 points).

For the women’s team, Sarah Hines (Sr., Northmor H.S.) captured the 5000 meters in an NAIA qualifying time of 18:02.76 while Lindsey Pifher (Jr., Colonel Crawford H.S.) qualified with a fifth-place finish in the one mile run in a time of 5:13.44.  In addition, the Malone women’s distance medley relay team of Becky Neitzel (So., Malvern H.S.), Amanda Theis (Jr., Seneca East H.S.), Ashton Avery (So., McKinley H.S.) and Erin Bauer (So., Loveland H.S.) qualified for nationals with a time of 12:30.77 (fifth place).

Other top-eight finishers for the women included Kayleigh Bildstein (Jr., Madison H.S.) in the 800 meters (2:21.23; fourth), Theis in the 400 meters (1:00.16; sixth), Lori Ickes (Jr., Smithville H.S.) in the high jump (4’ 11”), Pifher in the 3000 meters (10:41.27; seventh) and Beth Costello (Jr., Canton South H.S.) in the pentathlon (3074 points; seventh).  In addition, the women’s 4x400 meter relay team of Stephanie Noussias (Fr., GlenOak H.S.), Melissa Wohlheter (Fr., Tuslaw H.S.), Bildstein and Megan Miller (Jr., Crestwood H.S.) finished in seventh in a time of 4:12.78.  

The Malone University men’s and women’s track & field teams competed at the University of Findlay NCAA Div. II Challenge last Friday and Saturday as the Pioneer women’s team finished tied for 10^th among 19 teams at the meet while the Malone men’s squad placed 13^th among 20 teams.  The teams’ placements would have been higher had it not been for the fact that a number of Malone athletes who were scheduled to compete, and travel, on Saturday did not make the trip due to the weather.

The top performance of the day for the women’s team was an NAIA auto qualifying time by the distance medley relay team of Caitlin Sharp (So., East Canton H.S.), Amanda Theis (Jr., Seneca East H.S.), Kayleigh Bildstein (Jr., Madison H.S.) and Lindsey Pifher (Jr., Colonel Crawford H.S.) who ran a time of 12:30.80 (7^th place).

Other strong efforts for the women included Tynae Wilson (So., Fort Wayne, IN), Hannah Hartzler (Fr., Norwayne H.S.) and Gabrielle Wuensch (Jr., New London H.S.), who finished 4^th (18:44.29), 6^th (18:58.21) and 8^th (19:17.02), respectively, in the 5000 meters and Laura Page (So., Stow H.S.) who posted a personal best in the pole vault at 10’ 0”. 

For the men’s team, Paul Robinson (Sr., Field H.S.) captured first-place in the 5000 meters in a time of 14:53.09 while Tony Migliozzi (So., St. Thomas Aquinas H.S.) placed 10^th (15:52.58) and Jeremy Arthur (So., Medina H.S.) finished 13^th (16:09.31).

In addition, Kyle Wagner (Fr., Green H.S.) and Shane McLaughlin (Sr., Caldwell H.S.) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the heptathlon with 4295 and 4085 points.

The Malone men’s and women’s indoor track & field teams competed at the University of Findlay Classic last Friday and Saturday and three NAIA national qualifying marks by Pioneer athletes were posted in the process.

The women’s team had both of its 4x800-meter relay teams collect NAIA national qualifying marks (both A standards) while the men’s squad had one individual earn a spot at the NAIA indoor national meet.

For the women, the 4x800 relay unit of Ashton Avery (So., Canton McKinley H.S.), Becky Neitzel  (So., Malvern H.S.), Amanda Theis (Jr., Seneca East H.S.) and Kayleigh Bildstein (Jr., Madison H.S.) notched a time of 9:36.21 to automatically qualify for NAIA nationals while the 4x800 team of Lindsey Pifher (Jr., Colonel Crawford H.S.), Erin Bauer (So., Loveland H.S.), Megan Miller (Jr., Crestwood H.S.) and Caitlin Sharp (So., East Canton H.S.) also qualified (auto) with a time of 9:40.75.

For the Pioneer men’s team, Chris Sinick (Sr., Field H.S.) captured the 1000-meter event in a time of 2:29.92 to also post an NAIA auto qualifying mark.