UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – Records are meant to be broken and that's what the Alma College track and field team were able to accomplish on Friday, January 23rd, competing at the Saginaw Valley State University Doug Hansen Open. A school record for the men and the women were overtaken on Friday night as the Scots put up strong performances early in the season.
Looking at the men's side of the results, Onction Zape had a remarkable night for the freshman as he opened his meet with a second-place finish in the 60-meter finals, running a time of 7.10, just off from his collegiate best so far and only finishing behind a sprinter from Division II SVSU. Zape also recorded a personal best, which ultimate became a new school record run in the 200 meters, finishing with a time of 22.69. Zape's time surpasses his teammate Aiden Aldrich's time that was set last season, dropping the bar by .05 of a second. Another strong performance came from Trace Laskey, who finished first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.18. Teammate Kiefer Trimmer finished in third place behind Laskey with a time of 9.49. Phillip Banner collected a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter run with a time of 51.84, a new personal indoor best. Doubling the distance, in the 800-meter race, Aldrich finished in third with a time of 2:01.02, which was also a personal best for the sophomore. Moving to the field events, Ethan Wickman rose to third place in the high jump clearing a mark of 1.69 meters, only finishing behind Division II athletes. Wickman also finished second place in the triple jump, reaching a mark of 11.34 meters, a personal best for the sophomore. Nick Mikesell collected a second-place finish for the Scots in the long jump competition, finishing with a best mark of 6.03 meters, ahead of teammate Wickman with a finish of 5.10 meters. Nickolas Savoie was the best performer in the men's pole vault coming away as tied for first clearing a mark of 4.20 meters. Chris Rodgers was Alma's best finisher in the shot put, claiming sixth with a personal best throw of 13.53 meters. Callen Hagey also collected a sixth-place finish in the weight throw, throwing for 13.98 meters. The 4x400 relay team of Aldrich, Banner, Benjamin Daniels and Tristian Gist finished in third with a time of 3:41.71.
Flipping to the women's action freshman Tess Gasiciel ran a personal best time of 8.40 in the 60-meter sprint, claiming a third-place finish for Alma. MaryAlice Lynch reigned in a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 9.83, also a personal best. Alma had three top five finishers in the 400-meter race as Lauren Brawt came away in first with a time of 1.01.07, followed by Sophia Sanford with a 1.04.42 in third and Kennedi Wahmhoff with a time of 1:10.04 in fifth. The same also went for the 800-meter race as Jordan Fox came away in first with a time of 2:29.37, Helena Snyder in fourth with a time of 2:42.16 and Calla Armstrong with a time of 2:46.80 to finish in fifth. Snyder also came away with a personal best in the high jump clearing a mark of 1.62 meters, surpassing her old school record of 1.60 meters set last season, setting the standard another notch higher. Wahmhoff finished behind her record-setting teammate in fourth with a cleared mark of 1.42 meters. Brawt finished in fourth in the long jump with a jump of 4.94 meters, Alma's highest finisher in the event. Wahmhoff and Lynch both tied for fourth in the pole vault competition, each clearing a mark of 2.52 meters. Ella Moylan finished on the podium for Alma in the shot put, throwing for a mark of 11.56 meters, a new personal record. Julia Haggart finished just behind in fifth with a throw of 10.80 meters. Haggart was the Scots best finisher in the weight throw, finishing with a mark of 11.98 meters, a personal best for fifth place. The 4x400 relay team of Sanford, Wahmhoff, Kaitelyn Walker and Lynch, finish in first with a time of 4:33.47 to round out the meet as well.
Alma looks to build upon numerous early season successes and taking down more school records as they will continue to compete at a familiar location. The Scots will return to Saginaw Valley next weekend to take part in the two-day Jet's Pizza Invitational taking place on Friday and Saturday. Meet times are confirmed for 1:15 PM and 10:00 AM for the event.
