Sophomore Julian Smith (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) registered a pair of second-place finishes to lead the Valparaiso men’s track and field team as the Crusaders took to the track for the first time in 2012 at the Bob Eubanks Open in Allendale, Mich. on Friday, hosted by Grand Valley State.

Smith continued his dominant performances for the Crusaders in the sprints on Friday.  The sophomore actually qualified with the fastest time out of a 53-runner field for the finals of the 60m dash before earning a second-place finish, covering the distance in the finals in 6.95 seconds.  Smith then posted a runner-up finish out of 56 runners in the 200m dash as well, crossing the line in 22.11 seconds.

But it wasn’t just Smith with solid efforts on Friday, as the Crusaders had top-15 showings up and down the track events.  Freshman Nick Kowaleski (Lockbourne, Ohio/Grove City), competing in just his second collegiate meet, moved into fourth place on Valpo’s all-time chart in the 60m dash, placing sixth in the event final with a time of 7.06 seconds.  Freshman Kevin Adamik (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community) earned a pair of top-ten finishes, placing seventh in the 400m dash (50.97 seconds) and tenth in the 300m dash (36.83 seconds).

Junior Wally Bradford (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) came home ninth out of 56 competitors in the one mile run on Friday, crossing the line in 4:21.16, while senior Derek Schnake (Chicago, Ill./Lincoln Park) finished 14^th in the 800m run with a time of 2:03.99.  The Crusaders’ 4x400m relay squad, which featured Smith and Schnake as well as sophomores Joe Holy (Bolingbrook, Ill./Joliet Catholic) and Mickey Delcambre (Westfield, Ind./Westfield), ran to an 11^th-place finish, crossing the line in 3:31.54.

On the infield Friday, freshman Cy Badertscher (Janesville, Wis./Joseph A. Craig) slightly bettered his collegiate PR in the triple jump, leaping 43’1” to finish in eighth place in the event.  Also, senior Bill Rixon (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) recorded Valpo’s top finish in the throws, placing 15^th in the weight throw with a toss of 50’4 ¾”.

Valparaiso returns to the track next weekend at the Wisconsin Elite Invitational in Madison, Wis.  The two-day meet begins Friday afternoon, January 20 at 1 p.m. CST.