More top performances for track and field at Spec Towns Invitational

Wake Forest track and field team had another top performance April 8 through April 11 at the Spec Towns Invitational.

Both the men and women rose to new heights on Saturday putting up strong times and earning new personal records. On the men’s side, Charlie Ionata had another top finish, placing third in the javelin with a distance of 55.06m.

Max Adams took the championship as well as earned a new personal record throwing a distance of 52.67m in the discus. John Maurins also set a new PR the discus with a distance of 48.85m, while also earning new PRs in the hammer (51.14m), the shot put (18.31m).

For the women, Jessie Merckle led the way in the field events coming away with the javelin championship. Gabrielle Merritt also earned a championship in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 11:17.64, which moved her up to seventh on the Wake Forest All-Time Performance list.

“The Steeplechase is a 3000m race (7 1/2 laps around the track), with five barriers [per] lap, one of which is a water jump, that each competitor must successfully hurdle,” Merritt explained.

“After the completion of two races so far, I can definitely tell the importance of practicing going over the steeple barriers,” said Merritt. “Heading into this weekend, I think that it is very important to remember to ‘attack each barrier’, as our coach says, in order to more effectively make it over each of the barriers.”

Sydney White tied for second in the pole vault (4.15m) and Nyki Caldwell earned fourth in high jump (1.72m). Wake Forest also had strong finishes in the running events with Kathryn Lazarchick coming away with two championships in the 800m and the 1500m events, and Samantha Jones coming in right behind Lazarchick to take second in the 1500m.

“Overall, I felt that our team did very well this past weekend. There were several first place finishes and personal bests set by our athletes,” Merritt said. “It is very exciting to see the progress that has been made so far and I cannot wait to see all the hard work continue to pay off during the rest of the season!”

This weekend the Demon Deacons return to action competing at the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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