YOUNGSTOWN, OH. – The IUP men's and women's track and field teams were back in action on Saturday, as the two squads took part in day two of the YSU National Mid-Major Invitational. After starting the weekend off on Friday with several distance races and a few jumping events, the majority of the Crimson Hawks traveling contingent were in action on Saturday.
 
Race Notes
>> The Crimson Hawks had over 40 athletes taking part in day two of the YSU National Mid-Major Invitational.
>> Over 30 different teams took part in the meet, which featured schools from all three NCAA divisions, including several key PSAC rivals.
>> Five Crimson Hawks finished in the top ten places of their various events, with one member of the team also claiming first place in their individual competition.
>> In total the Crimson Hawks managed to secure 11 PSAC qualifying marks at the meet, while a further two NCAA preliminary qualifying spots were also picked up by IUP athletes at the meet.

Top Performers
>> Once again, the high jumpers of the men's track and field team put forth an impressive performance on Saturday. The Crimson Hawks had three members of their team finish in the top 10 of the event, including eventual champion Christian Jones. Jones was joined in the top 10 by Juan Mato-Segura who finished third, and Elie Basenga who came in seventh overall, Jayden Thomas just missed out on a top ten finish, coming in 11^th.
>> The most successful event for the IUP women's track and field team was also a jumping event, but in their case it was the triple jump. Nickeela Austin claimed third place in the event for IUP, while Rachel Horrell finished eighth. Stefanie Ketterman (21^st) and Faith Hershberger (24^th) also earned spots in the top 25 at YSU.
>> Competing in a massive field in the men's mile, sophomore Nathan Skodi finished 26^th overall with a time of 4:40.81.
>> Women's sprinter Niasia Harding finished 13^th overall in the 400 meter dash with a  time of 1:00.45.
>> Freshman distance runner Emma Alexy finished 18^th overall in the women's 3,000 meters with a time of 10:57.16. Alexy also finished with the 6^th best time out of the Division II runners competing in the 3,000 meters.
 
PSAC and NCAA Qualifiers
>> All four of the IUP men's high jumpers earned PSAC qualifying marks on Saturday. Christian Jones hit 2.04 meters to earn both the conference and NCAA qualifying mark, while Juan Mato-Segura (1.98 meters), Elie Basenga (1.90 meters), and Jayden Thomas (1.85 meters) also joined their senior counterpart in earning the conference mark with their heights.
>> In addition to finishing third and eighth in the triple jump, Nickeela Austin and Rachel Horrell both earned PSAC qualifying marks at the meet. Horrell's distance of 11.15 meters was good enough to earn a conference qualifying mark, while Austin's distance of 11.75 meters not ony earned a conference mark, but also saw her achieve a preliminary NCAA mark in the event as well. 
>> Freshman runner Paige Wess continued to add to her PSAC qualifying mark stash, as her time of 5:23.23 in the women's mile helped her to earn 15^th place overall, and a qualifying mark in the event.
>> In the men's pole vault Jeremy Adamson cleared a top height of 4.10 meters to earn 12^th place in the event. Adamson also comfortably earned a PSAC qualifying mark with his performance on Saturday.
>> Also earning a PSAC mark for the men's track and field team on Saturday was freshman Addison Singleton who finished 16^th overall, and 6^th out of division II runners in the men's 60 meter high hurdles with a time of 8.89 seconds.
>> One day after teammate Dre Carr earned a PSAC qualifying mark in the 60 meter dash at Penn State, Noah Shannon-Hatchett became the second Crimson Hawk to earn a PSAC mark in the men's 60 meter dash during the weekend. Shannon-Hatchet finished 15^th overall with a time of 7.13 seconds to earn the conference mark at YSU.
>> Senior Noah Mandel's strong performance in the men's 3,000 meters helped him to come in 22^nd overall with a time of 9:01.62, and earned him a PSAC mark in the event.

Up Next
>> The Crimson Hawks will be off next weekend before they return to action on Saturday, February, 15^th at the Doug Raymond National Qualifier hosted by Kent State University.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP track and field on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPtrack_XC.