Central Michigan University Athletics
Men's Track Competes At Ann Arbor
5/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | MTF
May 6, 2003
THE TEAM - The Central Michigan University men's track team will compete at the Paddock Invite. The meet begins Friday, May 9, and runs all day Saturday, May 10.
ONLY HALF - "We are looking more towards the MAC Championship rather than the Paddock Invite. Therefore, only about half the team will compete," head coach Jim Knapp said. "The MAC meet is less then two weeks away, and it's a bigger meet for us."
JESSE OWENS RECAP - The CMU men's track teams wrapped up competition at the two-day Jesse Owens Classic in Columbus, Ohio. It was a non-scoring event. The 18th running of the event featured 35 schools and several top club teams.
Highlighting the men's finishers were Steve Wolf (Sterling Heights/Jr.), who won the high jump title with a 6-7 1/2 effort, and the 400m relay team of Johnie Drake (Detroit/So.), Soji Jibowu (Saginaw/So.), Derold Sligh (Saginaw/Sr.), and Dana Thomas (East Lansing/Sr.) taking second (41.26).
Claiming top-10 places for CMU on the men's side were: Mike Sidlauskas (Sparta/So.) third in the discus (163-4) and fourth in the hammer (187-9); Thomas fourth in the long jump (23-9 1/2); Jibowu fourth in the 200m (21.39); Mike Marsh (Sarnia, Ont./Fr.) fourth in the discus (159-6) and 10th in the shot put (50-2 1/2); Sligh sixth in the 200m (21.61); Luke Humphrey (Sidney/Sr.) sixth in the 5000m (14:32.99); Nicholas Stout (Lake Orion/Fr.) sixth in the 110m hurdles (15.05); Pat Walderzak (Frankenmuth/Sr.) sixth in the shot put (52-1 1/2) and eighth in the hammer (181-1).
In the invitational events, the CMU's notables were: Sligh third in the 400m (47.89); Stout sixth in the 400m hurdles (55.91); Ron Miller (Stanton/Jr.) seventh in the 1500m (3:51.31); Drake seventh in the 100m (10.65) and eighth in the 200m (21.9); Ian Searcy (Canton/Sr.) ninth in the 800m (1:51.16) and Jacob Crowe (Grand Ledge/Jr.) ninth in the 1500m (3:52.52).
WEATHER CONFLICTS - "We did not do very well at the Jesse Owens Classic," Knapp said. "The weather was awful in Columbus.
"Half the teams pulled out before competing in one event due to the cold weather and rain. This meet was supposed to be a stepping stone to sort out who was going to run what events at the MAC meet.
"We hoped to make some decisions, but we didn't get a chance to do that."
ALMOST FULL STRENGTH - Johnie Drake is making strides to being full strength by the MAC Championship. Drake performed well in his three events at the Classic.
"Drake did a descent job at the Jesse Owens Classic," Knapp said. "Johnie was able to get another meet under his belt, and even though we didn't want him to push it in the cold weather, he did a good job."
