April 28, 2007
Wolverines win 3rd straight PAC title
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's track and field team won its third straight Presidents' Athletic Conference championship Saturday afternoon at the College's Robert E. Thorn Field. Grove City accumulated 220 team points in successfully defending its crown. Thiel took second with 168 points, followed by Washington & Jefferson (121), Bethany (37), Waynesburg (27) and Westminster (16).
Five different Grove City athletes earned individual victories Saturday. Junior Josiah Leuenberger (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) emerged as the Wolverines' lone double-winner as he won both the 1500 and 5000. Leuenberger took the 1500 in 4 minutes, 6.89 seconds, then won the 5000 in 15:38.61.
Junior Chris Andrew (Bow, N.H./Bow) won the 3000 steeplechase in 9:47.49 while senior Andrew Kloes (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) opened the meet by winning the 10,000 in 32:39.55. Junior Matt Kulinski (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) cleared 14 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault while senior Bob Perri (Washington, Pa./Trinity) won the shot put with a career-best mark of 52-8.
Freshman Tony Clark (Stow, Ohio/Stow) took second in the discus (138-9) while senior Matt Klein (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) took second in the javelin with a throw of 172-10. Junior Dave Hodge (Enon Valley, Pa./Mohawk) earned runner-up in the triple jump with a mark of 43-7. Senior Sam Dippold (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) finished second in the 400 hurdles (55.70) while sophomore Darin Miller (Line Lexington, Pa./Christopher Dock) claimed second in the 800 (2:00.90).
Grove City's two relay teams also placed second. Sophomore Chris Allebach (Souderton, Pa./Souderton), senior Scott Fichter (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills), senior Dave Majewski (Lockport, N.Y./Starpoint Central) and freshman Tim Palma (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-Dewitt) combined for a second-place finish in the 4x100 relay. That quartet set a new Grove City record with a time of 42.92 seconds.
Allebach, senior Yu Kuwabara (Owings Mills, Md./University, W. Va.), senior Jesse Sunquist (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) and senior Mark Murchie (Falls Church, Va./George Mason) finished second in the meet-ending 4x400 relay with a time of 3:25.59.
Murchie also finished third in the 400 (50.06) while Allebach took third place in the 400 hurdles (56.62). Sophomore Dan Spaulding (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) posted third-place finishes in both the 5000 (16:08.34) and 10000 (33:09.00). Junior Joey Cortez (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood City Lincoln) took third in the 1500 with a time of 4:16.52. Sophomore Nathan Johnson (Eugene, Ore./Sheldon) crossed third in the steeplechase (10:34.49).
In the field, Perri placed third in the discus (138-5) while junior Scott Mang (Erie, Pa./McDowell) cleared 13-6 in the pole vault to finish third. Junior Bob Rummel (Cabot, Pa./Knoch) jumped 21-3/4 to finish third in the long jump. Rummel also added fourth-place efforts in the 110 high hurdles (15.68) and triple jump (42-6 3/4).
Sunquist threw the javelin 161-10 to finish fourth while freshman Scott Degelman (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) placed fourth in the pole vault (13-6). Junior Justin Fowler (Newton Falls, Ohio/Newton Falls) finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 138-3. Senior Andrew Leuenberger (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) finished fourth in the 10,000 (33:15.00) while junior Greg Kroleski (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) finished fourth in the 5000 with a time of 16:20.13. Freshman Derek Kruse (Middlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) took fourth in the 800 (2:02.43).
Murchie finished fifth in the 200 (23.22) while Sunquist grabbed fifth in the 400 (52.10). Rummel took fifth in the 400 hurdles (57.23) and freshman Andrew Falcone (Dormont, Pa./Robinson Township Christian) finished fifth in the steeplechase (11:01.95). Fichter finished fifth in the 100 dash (11.51) while sophomore Ryan McKinney (Butler, Pa./Knoch) cleared 12-6 to finish fifth in the pole vault.
A total of 30 different Grove City athletes scored at least one point for the Wolverines. Grove City will wrap up the regular season with an invitational at Thorn Field Friday afternoon.
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