Senior Christian Rupe leads Men's Track & Field to first place finish at Centre (Ky.) Invitational
By Caleb Scott
DANVILLE, Ky. -- The Ohio Northern men's track and field team finished first at the Centre (Ky.) Invitational behind senior Christian Rupe's three top-3 finishes.
The Polar Bears improve to 36-1 on the year, while claiming their third top-2 finish of the season.
Northern got off to a quick start as junior Cully Gordon took first place in the 10,000-meter run in 33:19.20, while junior Eric Collins took second place in 32:48.15.
Both Gordon and Collins times broke the previous meet record set in 2015.
Senior Jonathan Wherry took seventh place in the event in 33:55.10.
Sophomore Matt Molinaro broke the meet record set in 2011 in the 800-meter run and took first place in 1:53.18, while sophomore Alec Lunney finished eighth in 2:01.41.
In the 5,000-meter run junior Kase Schalois took first place in 15:34.61, while sophomore Bobby Borger took fourth place in 15:49.41.
In the 4x400-meter relay the team of Emert, Karg, Molinaro and junior Ian McKee took first place in 3:27.75.
In the hammer throw junior Lucas Shumate finished first with a throw of 53.58 meters, while junior Zane Augustine finished sixth with a toss of 43.52 meters.
Augustine also took fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 13.69 meters.
Shumate also finished third in the discus throw with a toss of 45.04 meters, while freshman Kody Calkins took sixth place in the event with a throw of 42.11 meters and junior A.J. Cody took eighth with a throw of 39.84 meters.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase Northern placed three in the top-8 as sophomore Samuel Boyd took third place in 9:55.00, senior William Huddleston finished in 10:16.77 and junior Cameron Rusnak finished eighth in 10:31.90.
In the 4x100-meter the team of Rupe, senior Jojuan Fisher, sophomore Denorris Turner and freshman Nicholas Krugh took third place in :43.40.
Rupe took second place in the 100-meter dash in :11.36, while Turner finished seventh :11.53.
Rupe collected his third top-3 finish of the day as he finished third in the 200-meter dash in :22.90.
Northern placed three in the top-five in the 1,500-meter run as freshman Ian McVey finished third in 4:04.08, senior Eric Wymer took fourth place in 4:07.14 and junior Andrew Harden took fifth place in 4:09.38.
In the 110-meter hurdles senior Robbie Brinkman took third place for Northern in :15.78.
In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Conner Karg took eighth place in :51:08.
Sophomore Brandon Emert took third place in the 400-meter hurdles in :56.78.
In the javelin throw sophomore Luke Bogdanovich took sixth place with a toss of 42.47 meters.
In the triple jump Brinkman took sixth place with a jump of 12.17 meters, while sophomore William Wilson finished seventh jumping 11.24 meters.
Sophomore Alexander Sibila took fourth place in the high jump with a jump of 1.85 meters.
Senior Steven Gohrband finished capped off the victory for Northern with a third place finish in the pole vault with a jump of 4.11 meters.
Team Results
1. Ohio Northern 166, 2. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 109, 3. Cedarville 89, 4. Wittenberg 62, 5. Spring Arbor (Mich.) 51, 6. Grace (Neb) 49, 7. Centre (Ky.), 43.50 8. Milwaukee Sch. of Eng. (Wis.) 43, 9. Berea (Ky.) 39, 10. Cumberlands (Ky.) 34, 11. Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) 20, 12. Transylvania (Ky.) 16, t13. Campbellsville (Ky.) 12, t13. Kentucky Wesleyan 12, t13. Kentucky State 12, 16. U. of the South (Tenn.) 10, 17. Ohio Christian 8.50, 18. Georgetown (Ky.) 2