Petro Earns Victory in Weight Throw to Lead Men's Track at SPIRE

GENEVA, OHIO -- The Defiance College men's track and field team returned to action with the Carnegie-Mellon Invitational at SPIRE Institute on Saturday, as senior Joshua Petro (Ocala, Fla./The Villages) brought home a first place finish in the weight throw to lead the charge!

Petro's personal-best toss of 16.58 meters was good enough to top the field of 46 throwers, as well as give put him into the third position on the Defiance College all-time performance list in the event. Junior Andrew Fahler (Wellington) finished 10th in the meet with a toss of 13.68 meters.

A pair of Yellow Jackets also scored points in the shot put on Saturday, as junior James Baranoski (Bloomingdale, Mich./Bloomingdale) placed fourth overall with a throw of 13.72 meters, just shy of his personal best of 13.79 meters. Petro added an eighth place finish in the shot put onto his weight throw victory with his toss of 13.18 meters.

Freshman Vince Jackson (Mason) finished in second in just his second career collegiate meet, as he cleared the bar at 1.86 meters (6 feet, 1.25 inches).

On the track, freshman Cody Drumm-Turner (Homer, Mich.) made an immediate impact to help the Yellow Jacket sprinters, as he qualified for finals in the 60-meter dash with the fifth best overall time of 7.37 seconds. Drumm-Turner ran that same 7.37 mark in the finals, finishing seventh in the event. The 7.37 second mark was good enough to squeak himself into 10th on the all-time DC performance list. 

Freshman Gabriel Caris (Lambertville, Mich./Bedford) also ran his way into a top 10 mark on the all-time list on Saturday afternoon, as his 400-meter dash time of 52.90 seconds put him into the tenth overall position on the list, and into 16th place in the event overall.

Defiance finished in the 10th position in the team standings out of 13 teams with 26 total points in the meet.

The Yellow Jackets will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 27 as they host the Defiance College Invitational at the George M. Smart Center. Action is set to begin at 11 a.m.