Saturday, February 07, 2004

Valparaiso University's Elliot Powell (Orange Calif./Santa Ana H.S.) set a school record in the 200m dash helping to lead the Crusaders to a third place finish in the field of 22 at the Tiger Invitational in Greencastle, Ind. on Saturday.

The Crusaders tallied 59 points on the day, just six behind runner-up Indianapolis. Lindenwood won the meet with 155 points.

Powell finished in second place in the 200m dash with a time of 22.59 seconds, just .31 seconds off the lead. He bettered Antoine Ward's 1999 record of 22.71 seconds. Powell also finished in fifth place in the long jump, 3000m run. Matt Blume (Logansport, Ind./Pioneer H.S.) won the event with a time of 8:54.09. Teammate Christopher Orosz (Holland, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit H.S.) was two places back in third position with a time of 8:55.04. Orosz also turned in a fifth place effort in the mile with a time of 4:29.39.

The Crusaders only other individual point on the track came from Adam Wierciak (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette H.S.), who finished in eighth place in the 600m run with a time of 1:26.91.

The Brown and Gold placed a pair of scorers in both the shot put and the weight throw. In the shot, Todd Goodrick (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester H.S.) finished fourth with a toss of 48'1 ¾", while Jeff Swihart (Goshen, Ind./Northwood H.S.) was seventh with a throw of 45'9 ¼". In the weight, Bryan Bell (Bellevue, Neb./Bellvue East H.S.) was fifth and Matt Larson (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator H.S.) earned sixth, each with a toss of 47'3".

Valpo also earned a point from Brian Schultz (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan H.S.) in the triple jump, where he placed eighth with a leap of 40'10 ½".

Valparaiso will return to the oval next Saturday, as the Crusaders split their squad. Some members of the team will head to Ames, Iowa to compete at the Iowa State Classic, while others will head to Kenosha, Wis. to the Pepsi Challenge hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside.