Men’s Track Takes Fourth at HCAC Outdoor Championships

HANOVER, Ind. – The men's track and field team finished fourth at the 2011 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. Rose-Hulman won the championship meet with 226.50 points, while Franklin (123), Manchester (88.5), Defiance (80) and Anderson (74) rounded out the top five. [Results]

Aaron Demecs had arguably the best performance of the meet for Defiance with his 48.95-second 400-meter dash. Demecs already owned DC's school record for the event, but this was the first sub 49-second time in school history and shaved over half of a second off his previous record. The sophomore runner also placed eighth in the 200-meter dash, and teamed up with Josh Herron, Madison Murphy and Dan Hardin-Wallace to post one of the fastest 4x400-meter relay performances in school history.

DC's 4x400-meter relay squad finished second with a time of 3:24.03, marking the fourth-fastest time on DC's all-time performances list. The 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of Ryan Perry, Herron, Brian Downs and Hardin-Wallace, had a nice showing as well, crossing the line in 43.44 seconds for third place at the meet.

Austin Trivett turned in one of his typical team-leading performances at the meet. He was the only event-winner on the men's team with his first-place showing in the pole vault, and placed in the javelin throw, long jump, high jump and 110-meter hurdles. Trivett finished sixth in each of the field events other than pole vault, and placed fourth in the 110 hurdles, crossing the line in a season-best 16.03 seconds. Teammate, Jordan Weber, placed sixth in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.54.

Hardin-Wallace followed Trivett with a third-place showing in the pole vault with his personal-best clearance of 14' 7.25". That performance places Hardin-Wallace fourth in school history, just ahead of Tyler Anderson, whole cleared 14' 1.25" to take fourth place at the meet. Anderson also added a seventh-place finish in the long jump with a personal-best mark of 18' 7".

Justin Perkins and Hayden Krick led the way for Defiance in the distance events. Perkins placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, just missing the NCAA provisional qualifying standard by 7.5 seconds, and placed fourth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:49.60. Krick recorded a personal-best 1,500-meter run with his time of 4:08.77, which took fifth place at the meet and ranks fourth in school history.

Next on the schedule for Defiance is the Dr. Keeler Invitational in Naperville, Ill. The two-day event is scheduled for May 12 and 13.