Men’s DMR Sets School Record At Grand Valley State

It was a record-setting and nationals marks-adding day for Ashland University's nationally-ranked men's and women's indoor track and field teams on Saturday (Feb. 13).
 
The No. 3-ranked AU men and No. 21-ranked Eagle women competed on Saturday at the Doug Raymond National Qualifier at Kent State, and the men's distance medley relay team ran on Day 2 of the Grand Valley State Big Meet – and that quartet did more than just run.
 
Junior Jake Hall, senior Trevor Bassitt, sophomore Nick Ponzi and senior Ian Johnson broke the program DMR record at 9:45.23, good for a third-place finish at GVSU – as well as automatic qualification for 2021 NCAA Division II nationals, March 12-13 in Birmingham, Ala.
 
Bassitt now has automatically qualified or provisionally qualified for indoor nationals in six events – the 60-meter dash, 200 dash, 400 dash, 60 hurdles, 4x400 relay and DMR.
 
At Kent State, sophomore Ethan Tabor won the men's long jump with a new provisional distance of 7.19 meters/23-feet-7¼, while senior Rachel Miller took the women's 400 dash with a new hand-timed provisional of 56.04 seconds.
 
The women's weight throw saw junior Carrol Pauley win (18.86 meters/61-feet-10½), followed by senior Gianna DiPippo (18.39 meters/60-feet-4), and fourth-place freshman Kelsey Kinsley (17.22 meters/56-feet-6), who provisionally qualified for nationals.
 
The final nationals mark of the day came from senior Travis Moore in the men's 60 hurdles, at 8.14 seconds for a third-place showing.
 
Senior David Amstutz won the men's shot put (16.48 meters/54-feet-1), while senior Brent Fairbanks was the runner-up in the men's weight throw (20.72 meters/67-feet-11¾). Finishing in third place were freshman Cole LaRoche in the men's shot put (15.53 meters/50-feet-11½), junior Storm Elsesser in the men's high jump (2.01 meters/6-feet-7), Kinsley in the women's shot put (13.56 meters/44-feet-6), freshman Doniven Jackson in the men's 200 dash (22.14 seconds), the women's 4x400 relay of junior Cheyanne Davis, Miller, senior Maddi Yingst and freshman Peyton Perini (4:02.72), and the men's 4x400 relay of junior Travis Marx, freshman Bobby Crenshaw, sophomore Brayden Chaney and Moore (3:21.46).
 
Ashland's men and women will return to Kent State again on Saturday (Feb. 20).