GENEVA, Ohio — The Marietta College men's and women's track team collected three Top-10 finishes at the Spire Midwest Open Saturday (Jan. 25).
Emily Thompson (St. Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) placed fourth in the elite division of the women's pole vault. The highest placing Division III athlete, Thompson cleared a height of 3.60 meters (11'9.75") and finished behind three Division II athletes.
Gunner Fertig (Eleanor, W.Va./) had a fifth place showing in the intermediate division of the men's pole vault. Fertig's mark of 3.95 meters (12'11.5") was a new personal best for the freshman. Andrew Frannchini placed tenth in the weight throw with a mark of 14.23 meters (46'8.25").
In addition to his performance in the pole vault, Fertig set a personal record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.50 seconds in the prelims.
Several other Pioneers set personal records in the meet including
Cooper Warren (Logan, Ohio/) in the pole vault (3.80 meters – 12'5.5");
Matthew Siegler (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) (7.13 seconds),
Isaiah Mitchell (Hebron, Ohio/Lakewood) (7.37 seconds), and
Benny Lewis (Sanderson, Fla./Baker County) (7.88 seconds) in the 60-meter dash prelims; Mitchell (24.31 seconds), Lewis (26.37 seconds), and Brendon Thompson (27.35 seconds) in the 200-meter dash;
Aiden Keener (Orrville, Ohio/Smithville) (56.71 seconds) in the 400-meter dash;
Matthew Fehrman (Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley) (2:07.32),
Charles Putnam (Marietta, Ohio/) (2:10.88),
Aiden Westerman (Vincent, Ohio/Warren Local) (2:17.73), and
Kevin Hernandez (Plymouth, Ohio/Willard) (2:25.71) in the 800-meter run; and Putnam (4:37.15) and Westerman (4:57.77) in the mile run.
On the women's side,
Lillian Franchino (Waterford, Ohio/) set personal records in the 60-meter dash (9.48 seconds) and long jump (4.61 meters – 15'1.5").
Audrey Helmick (Berkeley Springs, W.Va./Berkeley Springs) had a pair of personal best performances in the 800-meter run (2:38.87) and mile run (5:47.10). Other personal records included
Eden Tepe (Oregonia, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) (8.94 seconds) and Ashley ward (10.53 seconds) in the 60-meter dash; and
Isabelle Poling (Lancaster, Ohio/Bloom Carroll) (5:53.27) and
Rami Padilla (St. Clairsville, Ohio/) (6:50.80) in the mile run.
The Pioneers are back in action this weekend (Jan. 31-Feb. 1) at the Youngstown State University Mid-Major Invitational.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.
