April 28, 2012
Grove City takes 3rd at conference championships
BEAVER FALLS, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's track and field team concluded the 2012 season Saturday by placing third out of nine teams at the 2012 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships, hosted by Geneva College Friday and Saturday at the Merriman Complex. Grove City concluded the two-day event with 99 team points. Westminster won the team title with 180 points and Washington & Jefferson took second with 129.
Five Grove City athletes individually recorded third-place performances during the two-day meet. Sophomore John Green (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier Valley) paced the Wolverines by taking third in both the 400-meter dash and the 400 hurdles. Green posted a time of 49.97 seconds in the 400 dash and then went 57.59 in the 400 hurdles.
Green also anchored Grove City's third-place 400-meter relay team, which recorded a time of 43.26 seconds. Sophomore Mun Hwan Cho (Seoul, Korea/Houghton Academy), sophomore Andrew Ledbetter (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) and junior Patrik Miller (Berlin, Ohio/Berlin Hiland) ran the first three legs of the 400 relay.
Senior Ben Lutz (Sykesville, Md./Marriotts Ridge) opened Saturday's competition for Grove City by taking third in the 3000 steeplechase (10:19.17) while sophomore Arleigh McRae (East Brookfield, Mass./Whitinsville Christian) finished third in the 10,000 with a time of 32:07.60.
Freshman Ethan Witmer (North Lima, Ohio/South Range) earned third in the 110 high hurdles (16.70). Senior David Ferreira (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) led Grove City in the field events by finishing third in the triple jump with a best leap of 42 feet, 11 1/2 inches.
McRae also took fourth in the 1500 (4:04.32) and 5000 (15:24.15) while Miller grabbed fourth in the 400 hurdles with a 57.65 clocking. Sophomore Alec Schultz (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) took fourth in the 10,000 (32:50.60). Witmer, Cho, Miller and Green closed the meet by taking fourth in the 1600 relay in 3:30.44.
Ferreira took fifth in the long jump (19-10 1/4), junior Sam Shesman (North East, Pa./North East) finished fifth in the 800 (1:59.67) and sophomore Mark Talbott (Tallmadge, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) claimed fifth place in the steeplechase (10:34.26). Witmer took fifth in the 400 hurdles (58.95).
Junior Josiah Douglas (Sayre, Pa./Sayre) captured sixth place in the high hurdles (17.65) and Schultz finished sixth in the 5000 (15:44.20). Talbott took seventh in the 10,000 (33:57.94), junior Nate Townsend (Tucker, Ga./Killian Hill Christian) finished seventh in the 800 (2:00.77), sophomore Matt Mucha (Parma, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) placed seventh in the 1500 (4:08.02) and sophomore Luke Latario (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) earned seventh in the high hurdles (18.63).
Freshman Zach Kepple (Chicora, Pa./Karns City) finished eighth in the shot put (38-3 1/2) and junior Francis Ridge (Derby, N.Y./Lake Shore) took eighth in the 10,000 (34:00.48).
The 2012 Championships marked the first time that the league awarded points to the top eight finishers. In previous seasons, the conference scored only the first six places in each event.
Several Grove City athletes have qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships May 17-18 in Albany, N.Y.
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