GRANTHAM, Pa. – Noah Griffin broke the Lebanon Valley men's outdoor track and field school record in the 3000 steeplechase at Bucknell University on Saturday while Ayden Stankus broke the pole vault record at Messiah University. The rest of the Dutchmen also had a strong day despite a weather delay at the Messiah Invitational.
 
MAC AND AARTFC QUALIFIERS PLUS OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES
Griffin finished 10th overall out of 59 finishers in the steeplechase at Bucknell with a career best and AARTFC qualifying time of 9:13.24. He was the fourth fastest Division III runner in the race and finished third in the third of four heats.
 
At Messiah, Owen Linder finished sixth in the 100 meters with a time of 11.22 seconds in the final after qualifying with a time of 11.32 seconds in the preliminaries. Zach Reed qualified for the MAC Championships in the 200 meters with a time of 23.20 seconds. Andy Loy finished seventh in the 800 meters with a time of 1:59.03. The Dutchmen placed three in the top seven of the steeplechase at Messiah led by Donnie Miller in third. The first-year ran 10:02.92 and was followed by Eric Shelton in 10:03.87. Cole Lehman was seventh with a MAC qualifying time of 10:31.72 while Joseph Pleban also ran a MAC qualifying time of 10:45.83.

Kadan Smith ran a MAC qualifying time of 16.12 seconds in the preliminaries of the 110 meter hurdles to qualify for the final. In the final he finished seventh with a time of 16.38 seconds. Daniel Murtha finished fifth in the 400 meter hurdles with a MAC qualifying time of 57.47 seconds.
 
Stankus had a career best height of 4.50 meters (14'9") in the pole vault to finish second. Josh Otto finished sixth in the long jump and seventh in the triple jump. He had a mark of 6.48 meters (21'3.25") in the long jump and finished with a jump of 13.02 meters (42'8.75") in the triple jump. Will Fisher finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 14.03 meters (46'0.5") while Wyatt Hetrick was seventh in the discus with a throw of 39.39 meters (129'3") and seventh in the hammer with a mark of 42.66 meters (139'11"). Trey Reynolds was fifth in the hammer with a mark of 46.25 meters (151'9"). Ian Paul finished second in the javelin with a mark of 53.87 meters (176'9").
 
INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
Griffin broke a 32-year old record in the steeplechase by less than a second. He beat the previous record of 9:13.84 that Scott Young ran in 1991. His new record of 9:13.24 is over 20 seconds faster than his previous best time that he ran last year and is one of the top 15 times in Division III this year depending on other results from this weekend. Miller and Shelton also worked their way into the steeplechase top 10 list. Miller's time of 10:02.92 is seventh while Shelton is eighth with his time of 10:03.87. Stankus also broke a long-standing record in the pole vault. His height of 4.50 meters broke the previous record of 4.41 meters that Jeff Rhone accomplished in 1998.
 
UP NEXT
LVC will have some competitors tomorrow evening at the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic while the rest of the team will compete at Widener next weekend.

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