Waynesburg Athletics Saturday, April 6, saw the Waynesburg University Men’s Track & Field team head up north to Butler County, where they took place in the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock University. Here, despite such frigid conditions and a pool of teams that included representation from division one programs such as Robert Morris University and Duquesne University, the men took advantage of the event as they soon set their sights on the PAC Championships.
For the field events, it can be highlighted by the performances of Garrett Hillard, for hammer throw with a distance of 33.39 meters, John Stewart, who had a distance of 38.25 meters in discus and Jacob Harker, who threw for a distance of 14.11 meters in the shot put, all three placing in the top 20 for their event in a stacked meet.
For Stewart, who despite not being able to practice throughout the week, was still on track for one of his best throws for the season thus far, something that Head Coach Chris Hardie made a mental note of.
“For John personally, he balances spring football all week, so his good performance this week was a testament to hid focus and determination.” Hardie said, making note of how much of Stewart’s ability comes from his tangible gifts, as well as how he approaches the sport, “He is so athletically gifted and works so very hard, so I am glad it all came together for him.”
When it comes to the track events, the long-distance participants stood out on the afternoon, as Matt Shank finished 16th in the 3k steeple chase with a time of 10:56.63, as well as Quinton Weaver finishing 17th in the 5k with a time of 16:22.84. as for the 800-meter, Weaver was the runner up in that event, finishing with a time of 1:56.76. For Aaron Sanders, who finished first in his heat for the 800 and was not far behind Weaver in time, made note of how he and his training partners are trying to get everything they can out of themselves for these competitions.
“Each of us is pretty driven to make the most out of our seasons, especially with Quintin and Andrew sine this is their last season on the team.” Sanders said, now directing his attention to what is next to work on, “I think we should progress pretty well, this week we are working with race strategy to better prepare us for meets.”
Regarding Sanders’ mention of Andrew Kasper, he had the performance of the day, as he was not only notched a second-place finish on the day, this being in the 10k with a time of 32:31.84 but broke his own school record in the process. For Hardie, he credits the mental toughness of Kasper for making this a reality in his senior season.
“A lot of factors came together for him to run a new school record including weather, race size and the fact that he was well rested from not running all day.” Hardie said, later mentioning how Kasper has really made the 10k his premier event, “It take a lot out of a runner mentally during the 10k, but it is so repetitive and so long. But he is built for the race, and I am glad that he did so well.”
As for other individuals on the day, Luke Whisel took 14th in the 10k with a time of 35:31.51, Kyle Casella placed fifth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 57.99 and Isaiah Matthews finished seventh in the 200m with a time of 22.27. For Hardie and his contingent, they will be heading back up north again on Saturday, April 13, as they will be competing in the Westminster Invitational.