Last weekend, the men’s indoor track and field team traveled to Alliance, Ohio, to participate in the Mount Union College Jim Wuske Invitational. There were no team placements Saturday, however, a wide-range of Yellow Jackets still made their mark in a variety of ways. Head coach Michelle Cross was pleased with the performance of the men, considering the size of the field in which the team was competing.

“Mount Union was [similar] to Youngstown in the sense that it was a large meet. Everybody that competed was in a heat or a flight that was competitive,” said Cross. “They had people to run against and [people] that would push them. Naturally, when you are in a situation like that, you see a lot of personal records [PR’s] come down as well as other times.”

Seniors Matthew Shinkle and Mark Minjock led the way for the men. Both picked up top eight finishes, with Shinkle placing in the 60-meter hurdles preliminary round, before also capturing ninth place in the 400 meters with a time of 55.20.

Minjock also took part in the 60-meter hurdles, where he posted the top time amongst all Presidents’ Athletic Conference runners. Later on, he notched a time of 7.27 seconds, enough for eighth place in the 60-meter hurdles.

“They did very well, especially in a meet like this where you have a lot of teams and a lot from your conference,” said Cross. “To see them being able to place not only against other conferences but also against our own teams is good. It was great to see that they placed in the top eight in each of their own respective events.”

Cross was also pleased with the performance from some of the cross over athletes who typically run distance that have continued to improve through the indoor season.

“Coming from the cross-country side of things, we have Morrison Colomb and Matt Durgin who ran the 3K,” said Cross. “They did a really nice job of pairing up with one of our upperclassmen and working really well together. Of the four people that ran that race, three of them were freshman who all finished under ten minutes.”

In previous years of Yellow Jacket indoor, when a freshman has run that event, only once did they finish under ten minutes.

“So, that was exciting for how well they did, but also how quickly they are progressing in their program,” said Cross.

With just four seniors departing at season’s end, Cross is encouraged by the way the seniors have led and helped to bring the underclassmen along.

“It’s been good to have the young freshman blood come in, but also to have the senior’s leadership to show them how to pace and how to approach workouts,” said Cross.

As the team has improved, the goal is now set on preparation and practice for the PAC Championships, where the Yellow Jackets finished eighth out of nine teams a year ago.

“At this point in the year it is all about PAC’s and preparation,” said Cross. “I think that we are definitely in much better position to do better this year than last. With our placing last year, there is a lot of room for improvement in that area. I am excited to see how many places we can make up in our conference.”

With the PAC Indoor Championships just two weeks away, the Yellow Jackets will head to Gambier, Ohio, for their final invitational of the season at the Kenyon College Classic.