Results

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Joshua VanDeMark, Dan Hyatt and Bryan Dworek all won individual titles Saturday to lead the Slippery Rock University men's track and field team into second place in the team standings after the opening day of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships from Bucknell University.
 
Defending champion Shippensburg leads with 56 points through the first five events of the competition. Slippery Rock sits second with 46 points. East Stroudsburg is a distant third with 23.5 points, followed by Kutztown with 15.5 points and California (Pa.) rounding out the top five with 13.5 points.
 
The highlights for Slippery Rock began on the very first event Saturday and continued until the last jump of the last event as The Rock bookended the day with a pair of school records and individual titles in a day that saw four school records broken.
 
Joshua VanDeMark opened the day by winning the PSAC title in the weight throw after breaking his own school record with a toss of 19.38 meters. His effort topped his former record of 18.94 meters that was set just last week and moved him up to No. 16 on the Division II list this winter.
 
Dan Hyatt continued the early momentum when he claimed his third straight overall PSAC title and his second straight indoor title in the pole vault. He cleared an NCAA provisional height of 4.75 meters to keep his PSAC crown in the pole vault and give SRU titles in each of the first two event finals of the meet.
 
The Rock would claim a third individual title in the final event of the day when Bryan Dworek won the long jump in what may end up being the best competition of the entire championship. Dworek entered his sixth and final jump sitting in fourth place before unloading a career-best effort of 7.46 meters to win the event. It topped his own SRU record of 7.44 meters from earlier this winter and won in a field where each of the top four athletes hit the NCAA standard and three men finished with marks of 7.41 meters or better. Gavin Thomas also placed sixth with a leap of 6.78 meters to give SRU 13 points in the event.
 
Slippery Rock got an All-PSAC effort and runner-up finish from its distance medley relay team to highlight the performances on the track Saturday. Shannon Dooley, Alex Dickson, Ryan Corbitt and Devon Navaroli closed a three-second gap on the final leg before being nipped at the line by Shippensburg by less than two-tenths of a second for the win. They posted a time of 10:09.50 and picked up eight points in the team standings. That time also broke the former SRU school record of 10:16.47 that was set in 2016.
 
The only other event final that was contested Saturday was the 5,000-meter run, where Troy Hart picked up five points for the team with a fourth place finish in 15:09.
 
In addition to the five event finals Saturday, Slippery Rock also had athletes compete in three preliminary rounds on the track and the first four events of the heptathlon.
 
The highlight from the qualifying rounds came in the 200-meter dash, where AJ Virata posted the fastest qualifying time to win his heat with a mark of 21.96 seconds, breaking another SRU record in the process. He topped the former SRU record of 22.00 seconds that was set by DJ Flick in 1999. Bryan Dworek also qualified for the finals with the fifth best qualifying time in 22.31 seconds to give SRU two athletes in Sunday's final.
 
Kadin Johnson and Matthew Crow also qualified for Sunday finals in their respective events with both freshmen posting the third best time in their events. Johnson was third in the 400-meter trials in 50.23 seconds and Crow was third in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.35 seconds.
 
Slippery Rock's three multi-event athletes all had solid first days of the heptathlon and sit in the top seven positions with three events to go Sunday. Gavin Thomas, who also scored in the long jump Saturday, sits second with 2,672 points. Kyle Adams is fourth with 2,575 points and Ethan Folmer is seventh with 2,428 points.
 
Sunday's final day of competition is scheduled to begin with fifth event of the heptathlon at 11:30 a.m.
 
A look at all of SRU's performances from Saturday can be found below.
 
5,000-METER RUN FINALS
4. Troy Hart – 15:09.75 (5 points)
14. Ethan Brentham – 15:45.64
16. Tucker Davis – 16:06.77
 
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY FINALS – 10:09.50
2. Shannon Dooley, Alex Dickson, Ryan Corbitt, Devon Navaroli (8 points, All-PSAC)
 
LONG JUMP FINALS
1. Bryan Dworek – 7.46m (Champion, SRU record, NCAA provisional, 10 points)
6. Gavin Thomas – 6.78m (3 points)
12. Zack Duda – 6.63m
 
WEIGHT THROW FINALS
1. Joshua VanDeMark – 19.38m (Champion, SRU record, NCAA provisional, 10 points)
10. Brandon McCray – 15.15m
11. Joshua Rohland – 15.02m
14. Joshua Gose – 13.81m
 
POLE VAULT FINALS
1. Dan Hyatt – 4.75m (Champion, NCAA provisional, 10 points)
9. Jakob Graff – 4.30m
 
60-METER HURDLES TRIALS
3. Matthew Crow – 8.35 (qualified for finals)
10. Brenden Lewis – 8.58
18. Jack Keenan – 8.87
 
200-METER DASH TRIALS
1. AJ Virata – 21.96 (qualified for finals)
5. Bryan Dworek – 22.31 (qualified for finals)
13. Matthew Crow – 22.80
 
400-METER DASH TRIALS
3. Kadin Johnson – 50.23 (qualified for finals)
 
HEPTATHLON THROUGH 4 OF 7 EVENTS
2. Gavin Thomas – 2,672 points
4. Kyle Adams – 2,575 points
7. Ethan Folmer – 2,428 points
 
 

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