With distance runners, sprinters, and field athletes all together for the first time this outdoor season, the Charger men delivered solid performances across the board. Head coach Andrew Towne said the team improved on its performance from the meet prior.
“It was solid,” Towne said. “The weather was OK for us. We had some improved things. It was definitely a better meet than last week.”
The team traveled to the University of Cincinnati for the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational to take on the Bearcats as well as Miami of Ohio, Ball State, Xavier, and a few other mid-majors. The invite saw the Charger distance side compete for the first time this outdoor season. Towne said his athletes ran well, with a couple of top ten finishes in the distance races.
“The first meet you just have to get going,” Towne said. “Very rarely is the first meet your best meet. But you need to be able to get out there and compete again. You need to see where you’re at. We’ve really stressed just competing this season and I think that went a little better this week than last week.”
A few standout performances also came from the field with senior Daniel Chapek’s discus and sophomore Ryan Thomsen’s pole vault and long jump. Towne said Chapek had a strong performance the week before and is continuing to improve.
“Daniel Chapek was pretty solid the week before,” Towne said. “He didn’t throw as far in the hammer this week, but he threw a little farther in the discus. That was good. Daniel basically started the meet for us.”
Chapek said discus went well for him, as he took second place in the hammer throw and fourth in the discus.
“For me personally the meet went really well,” Chapek said. “I threw both hammer and discus. Hammer was OK, but it wasn’t what I expected. Discus I got really close to the provisional mark. That’s one of my goals this season to qualify in discus for NCAAs.”
Thomsen took fourth in the pole vault and ninth in the long jump to add to the list of top 10 finishes.
“They were average marks for me,” Thomsen said of his performances. “Lately I haven’t been performing at the level I feel like I’m supposed to. But it was a good step in the right direction to get back on track.”
The team will have another chance to improve on its performances this weekend at home during the Hillsdale Invitational.