GRANVILLE, Ohio -- Denison men's track and field hosted the 2018 Bob Shannon Invitational where they placed fifth on Saturday afternoon at DU's Mitchell Fieldhouse. Competing alongside 12 other NCAA Division III and NAIA teams, the Big Red totaled 55 points on the day, finishing just behind Mount Vernon Nazarene University in fourth place with 65 points. Third-place Ohio Wesleyan (76) trailed the University of Rio Grande by just 1.5 points (77.5) in second place, while Carnegie Mellon University took home the top crown with 183 team points.
Headlining the day for the Big Red were sophomore Bryce Stricker and junior David Carter. Stricker placed first in the weight throw competition, breaking his previous varsity and personal record with a distance of 53'11.75". Stricker has now set a new personal and program-best in the weight throw in every meet that he has competed in so far this year. He also completed a throw of 44'5.50" in the shot put event, placing sixth among all competitors.
Stricker was joined by sophomore Austin McManus and freshman Austin Burgess with their own personal-bests in the weight throw. McManus set a new PR with a throw of 35'8.75" for a finish in 23rd place, and Burgess followed in 24th place with a distance of 33'7.25". McManus also added a 20th place finish in the shot put, adding a mark of 36'10.50".
Adding his own victory for DU, Carter placed first in the men's triple jump, reaching a maximum distance of 45'9.25". Carter also posted a second-place finish in the long jump event, logging a new personal record of 21'2.50".
The junior was followed in the long jump by Jake Coplin in eighth place (20'4.50"), Dee Brown in 12th place with a new PR of 19'3.25", and then Isaac Reed, who checked in with new personal-best of 18'9.25".
Reed also posted a top-two finish for the Big Red in the 60-meter hurdles when he clocked in with a new PR of 8.83 in second place. Sophomore James Dixie only trailed by 1.28 seconds to finish in eighth place with a time of 10.11. Dixie also grabbed a top-five finish in the triple jump, securing a fourth-place jump of 41'9.75".
In the one mile run, sophomore Ben Foster posted a personal-best time of 4:27.21, good for a fifth-place finish. He then competed in the 800-meter event where clocked in at 2:03.93, finishing in ninth. He only trailed fellow teammate Zach Munn by .63 seconds, who finished in seventh with a time of 2:03.30.
The Big Red also earned a top-10 finish in the 4X200 meter relay when Brown, Grant Balogh, Alex Chin, and Jack Ruddy placed seventh with a time of 1:37.28.
Denison will return to action this coming Friday, Feb. 9 when they head to Delaware, Ohio to take part in the Ohio Wesleyan Open.
