Lakers take a small squad to DII Challenge and Findlay Open

FINDLAY, Ohio - Lake Superior State's Jonathon Allen set a school and meet record Saturday at the NCAA DII Challenge hosted by the University of Findlay with a winning distance of 15.02 meters (49-3 1/2) in the men's triple jump.

Allen also bettered the NCAA Provisional Qualifying Standard, but missed the automatic qualifier by .18 meters. LSSU's previous school record of 45-11 was set by Derek Sandahl in 2002. The previous meet record of 47-11 was set by Evan Flax of Morehouse in 2007. Allen placed fourth in the long jump with a 6.74 meter finish.

Lake Superior State's Ben Charbonneau was third through Friday's heptathlon events at the NCAA DII Challenge and wound up fifth with a newly-established school record of 4,072 points. During Friday's events, Charbonneau placed second in the 60-meter dash (:07.30) and shot put (11.61m), ninth in the high jump (1.66m) and fourth in the long jump (6.06m). On Saturday, he was sixth in the 10,000-meter run (3:01.01), fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (:09.57) and seventh in the pole vault (2.84m).

John Preczewski placed fourth in the high jump (1.89m) and 12th in the 60-meter hurdles (:08.78). 

On Friday, Jake Hoover finished 12th in the men's 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:03.58, and Robert Swain was 17th in 16:26.89. On Saturday, Hoover was 23rd in the 3,000-meter run (9:18.27) and Swain was 26th (9:28.15).

Jeff Kuhl clocked a 4:27.65 to place eighth in the men's 1-mile run on Saturday. Paul Davis was eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of :22.64. Katie Winiarski was eighth in the high jump (1.53m) and ninth in the triple jump (9.54m).

Jill Walton placed 16th in the women's pentathlon with a school-record 2,297 points. She won the pentathlon shot put with a distance of 12.68 meters.

The LSSU men finished 10th among 20 teams, while the women were 19th out of 19 teams.

At the Findlay Open, which was also held Friday, Walton was fourth in the women's shot put  with a school-record distance of 13.06m. Davis finished 16th in the 60-meter dash finals (:07.38). Kuhl was seventh in the 800-meter run (2:02.62). LSSU assistant coach Gregg Schmidt was 20th in the shot put (13.17m) while competing unattached.