Richards Wins Two Events at Elete IUP Open on Saturday
Apr. 22, 2006
INDIANA, Pa. - Junior Bernie Richards (Yorkhaven, Pa./Northeastern York) won the 110 and 400 meter hurdles to highlight another excellent day for the Shippensburg University men’s track and field team, this time at the 33rd Elete IUP Open held at Indiana University (Pa.).
Richards captured his fifth and sixth individual championships of the season Saturday with a time of 15.3 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles and a time of 54.20 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. Richards defeated Slippery Rock’s Nate Shadeck by more than two whole seconds to earn his third first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles this season.
Shippensburg as a group finished the day with 26 Top-10 finishes, and the men’s and women’s teams combined for 51 Top-10 finishes for the event.
In relays, Shippensburg took first place in both events, winning the 100 and 400 meter relays. Freshman Sean Cohick (Newville, Pa./Big Spring), sophomore Jamal James (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), senior Steve Huffman (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) and sophomore Alex Terrell (Cardiff, Wales/Radyf Comp) took first-place in the 100-meter relay with a time of 42.40 seconds, narrowly besting Slippery Rock and Thiel.
Huffman joined sophomore Eric Baker (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville), senior Kenrick Marsh (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) and sophomore Maurice Barbour (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) to take first in the 400-meter relay with a time of 3:17.20, edging second-place Thiel by 1.5 seconds.
Th team's performance is the second best by any school this season, as the Red Raiders finished just .08 seconds short of tying Kutztown's mark set at the Shamrock Invitational in March.
Sophomore Mark Anderson (Nanty Glo, Pa./Central Cambria) continued his strong performances in throw events by winning the discus throw with a heave of 145 feet, 10-inches. Freshman David Green (Waynesboro, Pa./South Western) took second place with a throw of 136-feet, while SU graduate Brian Haupt took third place with a throw of 135-feet.
The same trio took first through third place in the hammer throw as well. Haupt, who set the school record for the hammer throw in 2004 with a toss of 160-feet, 5-inches, took first this weekend by besting that mark with a throw of 167-feet, 5-inches. The toss does not change the school record, however, as Haupt is a graduate and was participating unattached.
Green took second place with his strongest throw of the season, a throw of 150-feet, 7-inches, while Anderson took third with a throw of 147-feet, 4-inches.
Haupt also took first place in the shot put with a toss of 49-feet, 3-inches, while Anderson took fifth with a toss of 46-feet, 2-inches.
In sprints, Cohick tied for first in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.2 seconds. Juniata’s Randy Anderson matched Cohick’s time while James finished in a tie for third place just one-tenth of a second behind. Junior Ryan Koppenheffer (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) took seventh place with a time of 11.5 seconds.
Sophomore Eric Baker (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) finished in second place in the 400 meter dash with a time of 49.1 seconds., while junior Devon McKenzie (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) and Huffman took sixth and seventh places respectively to give Shippensburg three runners in the Top 10 for the event.
In the mid-distance events, the Red Raiders had three runners place in the top-5 of the 800 meter dash. Marsh, junior Greg Weiss (Newfoundland, N.J./West Milford) and freshman Stephen Thompson (Northumberland, Pa./Shikellamy) placed third through fifth in the event, as IUP’s Sean Strauman took first place.
The men's and women's track and field teams return to action on Thursday, April 27 at the prestigious Penn Relays before returning home for the Paul Kaiser Invitational this weekend at Seth Grove Stadium.
- Red Raider Track and Field -
