Cards grab 11 top spots at open

Women's team sets two meet records, men claim six first-place finishes

January 22, 2007 —

by Brandon Kish

Freshman Luke Dinnan cleared 13.9 feet on the pole vault Friday afternoon. Dinnan placed second behind sophomore teammate Kyle McDaniel, who won the event with a height of 15.03 feet.

by Brandon Kish

Sophomore Sjonne Mitchell tied her own team record in the 60 meters winning the event in 7.98 seconds.

by Brandon Kish

Sophomore Elayna Dush competes in the 5,000 meter run during Friday's SVSU Collegiate Open. Dush finished second in the event with a time of 19:46.88.

The SVSU men and women track teams combined for 11 first place finishes, and the women set two meet records in the 19th SVSU Indoor Collegiate Open on Friday.

The meet was the Cardinals' third of the indoor season and final home meet until the GLIAC Indoor Championship.

Senior thrower Ashley Bishop led both the men's and women's squads by notching two first-place finishes.

Bishop took first in both the shot put and weight throw, recording distances of 13.75 meters and 16.94 meters, respectively.

Bishop's weight throw toss was also a provisional mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships, besting her previous mark of 16.68 earlier this indoor season.

Junior Becca Rudey set a record of her own by winning the 3000 meters with a time of 9:58.57.

Also earning first place finishes were sophomore Sjonne Mitchell, who set her own team record in winning the 60 meter with a time of 7.98.

Junior Jessica Sweeney won the 800 with a time of 2:18.67.

The men also fared well, taking home six first-place finishes of their own.

Sophomore Sean Egan destroyed the competition in the shot put with a throw of 53.05 feet.

Junior teammate Joe Dugall, meanwhile, won his first event at SVSU by clearing 6.5 feet on the high jump.

Sophomore Kyle McDaniel bested the field in the pole vault, clearing 15.03 feet.

Other first place finishers were Charlie Richards in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.58 and Anthony Filipek in the 800 with a time of 1:55.74.

In relay competition, the team of Richards, Filipek, sophomore Sam Tilmon, and junior Justin Thomason won the 1600 meters with a time of 3:25.95.

Overall, the Cardinals placed well despite being short some key athletes. Freshman Scott Chevalier and senior Chris Baranek, both national qualifying sprinters, were among a laundry list of Cardinals who did not participate in Friday's meet.

However, assistant coach Ed Skrelunas did not seem to think these absences would affect the team too much in the long run.

"In the long term, no (the absences) won't be a problem," he said. "They're mostly flu-like symptoms; they should be over that soon."

Because it was their last home meet until the GLIAC Indoor Championship, many Cardinals saw this as a good opportunity to warm up before a lengthy stretch on the road, in which they have four consecutive meets away from the friendly confines of the Ryder Center.

"It's good, it gets you in shape for the more important meets," said freshman hurdler Ryan Irwin. "It's still competitive, so it helps in that sense too."

Senior women's captain Krystin Vogel echoed those sentiments, and added "It's more of a preparatory meet to get us more prepared for tougher competition."

The Cardinals will travel next to Findlay, Ohio for the University of Findlay Open, which will take place on Jan. 26-27. They will also be making stops at Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan before returning home for the conference championship, on Feb. 23-24.