Spartans Travel to SPIRE Invitational and GVSU Meet

2/9/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field

Feb. 9, 2017

SPIRE Live Results | SPIRE Heat Sheet
GVSU Live Results Friday| GVSU Live Results Saturday | | GVSU Program

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State track and field teams will split up this weekend and take off to two separate locations from Friday, Feb. 10, to Saturday, Feb. 11., with competitors at the SPIRE DI Invitational in Geneva, Ohio and the GVSU Big Meet in Allendale, Mich.

"This is our biggest weekend until the Big Ten Championships," said Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Walt Drenth. "This is our last preparatory event prior to the Big Ten Championships so it's important we see some growth and some progress. We need to keep seeing us make progress and we need to keep finding the right pieces to the puzzle this weekend."

The GVSU Big Meet is slated to take off at 10 a.m. on Friday with the opening event of the men's 5,000-meter run followed by the women's 5K. Field events commence at 12 p.m. with the high jump followed by the men's and women's long jump at 12:30 p.m.

"Our primary objective is to get each athlete who has the ability to be in the Big Ten's the best competition for them," said Drenth. "We are sending athletes to locations that is going to be relevant to their progress."

The SPIRE DI Invitational will be battled over Friday and Saturday. The meet will be held at the SPIRE Institute, which is the location for the Big Ten Indoor Championships from Feb. 24-25.

"The Spire meet is typically a pretty competitive meet," said Drenth. "There will be some Big Ten athletes there and a good representation of competitive schools. Right now, I'd say there will be very competitive teams there and it will be a good meet. We felt like we needed to get some of the field event people to Spire just to see the venue and get used to the lanes, runways and things like that. The important transitions for the conference meet."

The last time out, Michigan State had a split weekend sending athletes to the ultra-competitive Meyo Invitational and finished with top highlights. MSU also sent six multi-event athletes and pole vaulters to the Akron Invitational over the weekend where they also recorded top marks. Senior Alexis Wiersma put on an excellent performance in the 3,000-meter run with a national qualifying time of 9:11.63 and third place finish. Redshirt senior Shelby Jackson raced to a 15th-place finish in the 3,000-meter.

In the field events, redshirt Shelby Allen recorded a seventh-place finish in the triple jump with a personal record of 12.27-meters. Senior Katelyn Daniels garnered a fourth-place finish in the shot put with her final throw as her farthest at 15.24-meters.

For the men, redshirt senior Sherod Hardt took sixth in the 3,000-meter run on a time of 8:05.65 and redshirt junior Clark Ruiz was just a second behind with a seventh-place finish. Redshirt freshman Jesse Hersha and senior Max Benoit were also in the race finishing 15th and 25th, respectively.

In the sprinting events, senior Antonio Clarke paced the way for the Spartans racing to an eighth-place finish in the 200-meter dash, while redshirt senior David Washington took 21st. Washington was the top Spartan in the 400-meter dash with a 12th place finish and time of 48.16 and Clarke finished 18th.

For the men's field events, sophomore Cody Stemple took sixth in the high jump, clearing a final height of 2.08-meters. Senior Reggie Ferrell finished 11th in the long jump. Redshirt junior Riley Norman took fifth in the weight throw and seventh in the shotput.

At the Akron Invitational, sophomore Asya Reynolds garnered a second-place finish in the pentathlon with a final score of 3,885. She only trailed Jaclyn Siefring of Akron who won with a score of 4,204. Redshirt senior Tim Ehrhardt also put on a solid performance with a third-place finish in the heptathlon and score of 5,628. He took first in both the shot put and pole vault.