EDINBORO — Bradford senior John Eakin placed third in the shot put with a throw of 52’2” on Saturday at the Tri-State Coaches Championship Meet held at Edinboro University.
Eakin is currently ranked ninth in the State and has qualified for the PA Indoor Championship Meet at Penn State University next Sunday.
“John will have to pick it up to win a medal at that meet and he is capable of doing much better down there,” Owls coach Tom Tessena said.
Logan Caruso ended his indoor track career by setting a new indoor record in the Mile with a time of 4:33.55 which placed seventh in the meet. Caruso also notched a new senior record in the 3000 meters with a time of 9:29.01 that placed 11th. He bested Steve Kirkland’s record in the 3000 meters (9:35.75) set in 2006. Caruso had held the previous record in the Mile set last weekend.
“Logan has improved steadily this winter and should be ready to go this spring,” Tessena said.
Junior Matt Stafford continues to improve. He placed fifth in the 60 meter high hurdles in a career best time of 8.64. He currently has the 28th fastest time in the State and has met the time qualification must also must be in the top 24 times submitted to make States next weekend.
Matt also set a new junior record in the 200 meters with a mark of 23.41 breaking Vanere Maynard’s mark of 23.48 set in 2007. Stafford placed ninth, just missing the medal in that event. He also placed ninth in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.28 missing the finals by another scant margin of .02 seconds. He finished his day off anchoring the 4×200 relay where he teamed up with Jaron Ambrose, Nate Blauser, and John Eakin to place 11th in a season-best time of 1:37.52.
Ambrose recorded a personal best time in the 60M High Hurdles(8.99) and placed 12th while Nate Blauser had a personal best in the 800 meters of 2:06.49. He also anchored the 4×800 relay team of David Allen, Ian Paterniti, and Devin Benson to a 18th place finish in a season-best time of 9:41.89.
Junior Steve Kellam had his career best vault of 11’9” for a 17th place finish in the pole vault.
“I think these kids did a pretty good job this winter and the work should prepare them for good seasons in outdoor track,” Tessena said. “The outdoor season will start on March 5th so we are only two weeks from that opening.”
A meeting will be held on Thursday, Mar. 1 immediately after school in the cafeteria. All paperwork must be turned in at that time for those boys who are going out for Track & Field this spring. Anyone who is interested that has not signed up should do so this week in the nurse’s office.
