Apr 6, 2016 By Cody Yankulic for The Yellow Jacket 2 min read

The season for the men’s track & field team continued this past weekend as the Jacket athletes placed third at the Bethany College Invitational.

The men’s track team entered the competition with only two meets that counted team points; Saturday would be the best showing this season. Falvo said the team needs to take it one meet at a time.

“We focused on what we could do in each event and are looking to improve from the previous week,” said Falvo.

The focus on individual events was intense, as the Jackets had strong performances in both the track and field events. There were six Jackets to note who had strong performances.

Sophomore Mark Minjock led the team in track events by finishing third in the 100-meter dash. Minjock also ran in the 200-meter dash and the 4×100 and 400 relay. Freshman Matt Raineri placed fifth in the 800-meter and sophomore Matthew Shinkle placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles.

Junior Brandon VanTine continued his success in the field events with a throw of 12.81 meters in shot put and added a seventh place finish in javelin with a throw of 42.25 meters. Senior Austin Oberg surpassed VanTine in the javelin with a fourth place finish with a throw of 45.57 meters. Sophomore Mitchell Kendra added to the action when he tied a Division I pole-vaulter after clearing 4.20 meters.

“We build off our training each day,” said Falvo. “We are working toward our goals for the outdoor season. I am happy with how we are progressing.”

The momentum is building. In their first meet the Jackets finished fifth out of 11 teams, however, in the past two they have had solid finishes of both second and third place. The finishes are improving and the team, according to Falvo, are excited for their next meet.

The next meet the Jackets will compete in will take place on Apr. 9 when the Jackets travel to University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.