John Ethan Baldwin stole the show for the men’s track team this week with an outstanding performance in the heptathlon. The sophomore multi-event athlete shattered the school record by 39 points and ended with a final score of 5040 points. He won the event and set an NCAA Division II Provisional Mark.
“His performance was really good,” head coach Andrew Towne said. “He was our male athlete of the week.”
Baldwin said he struggled with pole vault and that threw his overall performance in jeopardy, but he ended up in good standing in that event and ultimately destroyed the competition.
“Overall it was a big improvement over what I’ve done before. It was a bit of a rollercoaster over two days,” he said. “There were some good events and some things that didn’t go exactly to plan. It’s pretty much about consistency over a long period of time because you can’t learn everything quickly. And it’s helpful that it’s fun and I enjoy it.”
Senior Ryan Thomsen who was the previous record in the heptathlon ended second behind Baldwin with a score of 4951 points, which is also a provisional mark. Between Thomsen and Baldwin’s efforts over the two-day competition, they won five of the seven events. Baldwin won the 60m dash, the 60m hurdles, and high jump, while Thomsen won pole vault and long jump.
On the track, freshman Ian Calvert ran a personal best to win his heat and ultimately come in second in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:58.49. His teammate, freshman Sean Hoeft, ended fourth in the race with a time of 1:59.16.
Junior Charles Holbrook ended 14th in his heat in the 3000 meter run with a time of 9:42.75, and sophomore Adam Wier won the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:36.20.
“I was happy with my first collegiate win, but not satisfied with how I got it,” Wier said. “There will be another opportunity at the conference meet. For now, I just have to keep training and building off the experience.”
His teammate, freshman Mark Sprague ended seventh in the event with a time of 16:15.87.
Senior Ian Brown ran a personal best of 8.30 seconds in the finals of the 60 meter hurdles and ended in third place. Freshman Joseph Ritzer ran a personal best as well in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.78 seconds.
To the end the day on the track, the men ran the 4×400 meter dash. They ended with a time of 3:33.05 seconds and the team consisted of Ritzer, freshman Benu Mienjntes, senior David Downey, and junior Adam Wade. The team finished in fourth place in the race.
In the field, sophomore Will Syrus competed in the long jump and ended eighth with a leap of 6.55 meters. Syrus also tied for third in the triple jump with a jump of 13.19 meters.
Teammate Josh Nichols, ended 20th in the long jump with a jump of 5.78 meters and ninth in the triple jump jumping 11.85 meters. Freshman Charlie Andrews took fourth in the high jump with a jump of 1.89 meters.
Sophomore Steven Weidman competed in the weight throw and ended 13th with a throw of 14.71 meters.
The Chargers hold a record of
The Chargers compete at different meets next weekend to continue to prepare for the conference.
“These next few weeks are crucial for us to sharpen up for the indoor conference and really be ready next time,” Wier said.