Men's Track Has Solid Showing at Shippensburg

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa.--Following a solid outing at the Capital Athletic Conference championships last week, a partial squad of 11 men traveled to Shippensburg University for the Paul Kaiser Classic.

Freshman pole vaulter Chris DiGangi set new school and personal records in placing sixth in a crowded field of 29 vaulters, many of them NCAA Division I and II athletes. In doing so, he cleared 14’ 5.25” (4.40 meters), nearly four inches higher than his winning CAC jump the previous outing.

“Chris is rolling,” observed head coach Brent Ayer. “He had a legitimate shot at 15’ today and got his hips over the bar. He vaulted 13’ 6” in high school and is prepared to cross 15’ right now. Going forward, only time will tell how high he can go. Despite shin pain, he had a really nice meet today.”

Top finishers on the day were William Andrews and Brendan Greenlees, who braved high temperatures and swirling winds to finish second and third among a smaller field in the 10,000 meter run.

Personal records were set by senior Tomilayo Komolafe in the 400 and by freshman
David Andren in the hammer throw and the discus. “I am really pleased for T.K.,” said Ayer. “He has transformed himself in four years. He ran 59.30 in his first college race and 52.72 today into the wind. This is just a monster jump. David is a tall thrower with all the right angles and he is relatively new to throwing. I can’t see why he can’t be one of the top CAC throwers within the next year or two.”

Senior Matt Haynes contested the hammer, discus, javelin, triple jump and long jump finishing 13th in both the hammer and the triple jump. “Matt is a good all-around athlete and we decided to let him ‘play’ today,” Ayer said. “He has a high strength-to-weight ratio and would have made a solid decathlete.”

Senior Nick Manning was 8th in the 3000 meter steeplechase and later came back to run 1:03 in a highly unusual 400 hurdles "double."