Shelley, Zietoon Set Records at Delaware
NEWARK, Del.--Junior captain Brett Shelley of the Hood College men's track and field team recorded the highest Blazer finish at the Delaware Open, hosted by the University of Delaware on Saturday.
Shelley muscled his way to a 10:09.00 to finish second in the 3000-meter steeplechase. In doing so, he lopped 3.5 seconds off his existing school record. The other school record on the day belonged to senior Naseem Zietoon who took his existing school record of 58.50 down to 58.26 in finishing seventh in the 400 hurdles.
The dominant event of the day for the Hood track men was clearly the 110-meter hurdles. The Blazers came home third, fourth, seventh and eighth. Nick Aldana led the charge recording a 16.07, followed closely by Tyree Wilson in 16.08. Zietoon and Nick Slawson rounded out the effort.
"I’m not entirely sure Brett has fully recovered from the hard 10,000 he ran last weekend a Millersville," said head coach Brent Ayer. "He’s running awfully tough, but just seemed a little tired. Naseem had a very nice day, with a school record and a new personal record in the short hurdles."
Michael Beidleman continued his strong sprinting. In fields dominated by NCAA Division I and Open athletes he placed fourth in the 100 (11.23) and fifth in the 200 (22.65) despite running into a persistent head-wind.
Others placing in the top 10 included Dan Jacobs with a 9:15.23, good for sixth in the 3000. The mark brought him to within a second of Stephen McNamara's school record set last year. Zach Keyser took eighth in the hammer throw, Steven Powell eighth in the pole vault and Aldana took ninth in the long hurdles. The Blazers 4 x 100 meter relay team of Aldana, Wilson, Zietoon and Beidleman finished fourth in 43.86, just off the school record set last week.
In addition to the new school records, the Blazer men set a number of new personal bests. These included Dan Jacobs (400 & 3000), Justin Cifuentes (3000), Matt Dyjack (3000), Nick Slawson (110 and 400 hurdles), Zietoon (110 and 400 hurdles), Gunther Zimmer (discus and javelin).
"I thought the men competed hard," observed Ayer. "There's not really much left to be done in the way of preparation. If we are smart and take care of ourselves, we will be ready for the conference championships."
The track & field team next competes on Saturday, April 21 at the Mason-Dixon Invitational hosted by Gettysburg College. That meet will be the final regular season competition heading into the Capital Athletic Conference championships hosted by Frostburg State University on May 5 and 6.
