Fredonia's Justyn Haines (Albion) cleared a personal-best 4.60 meters to win the men's pole vault at the Feb. 4 Mount Union College Wuske Invitational Track & Field meet.
Haines, a junior, passed until the bar reached 4.30 meters. He made the height, then cleared 4.45 meters, and then 4.60 (15 feet, 1 inch), the 28th best vault so far this winter in NCAA Division III. He made three unsuccessful attempts at 4.70 meters. His previous best vault was 4.56 meters indoors and 4.50 meters outdoors.
Other Fredonia highlights:
FIELD EVENTS -- Blue Devil senior Kyle Brown (Hamburg) improved by over a half-meter in the 35-pound weight throw to finish third. Damone Brown (Haverstraw, N.Y.) was eighth in a field of 42. Kyle Brown's best throw came on his fourth attempt: a personal-best 17.06 meters (55 feet, 11.50 inches), which moved him up to No. 21 on the NCAA indoor qualifying list. His previous-best was 16.48 meters. Damone Brown's eighth-place attempt was measured at 13.89 meters (45 feet, 6.75 inches), also a personal-best. Other personal-bests, excluding first-time competitors: junior Mitchel Paciga (Jeffersonville) in the pole vault (3.70 meters).
RUNNING EVENTS -- Fredonia had two groups entered in the 4,000-meter Distance Medley Relay. The "B" group of junior Merlin Joseph (Binghamton), freshman Larry Durski (Blasdell), freshman Aidan Pollard (Lindenhurst), and senior Bobby Cooper (Macedon) finished second, in 10:54.75 -- .86 of one second out of first. Fredonia's also ran an "A" group, which finished fourth … Ethan Francis (Dunkirk), a junior, was fifth in the mile in 4:33.44. There were 46 runners overall … Led by senior Pat Shenal (Henrietta), Fredonia had three in the top nine of the 800 meters. Shenal was fifth (2:00.33), followed by Cooper in seventh (2:02.04) and Joseph in ninth (2:02.91) ... Other personal-bests, excluding first-time competitors: sophomore Zak Kellerman (Depew) in the mile (4:47.0); senior Brendan Long (Millbrook) in the 200 meters (:27.00); freshman Will Teneriello (East Meadow) in the 400 meters (:57.52).
