Rickaby excels as men’s team finishes third

The Kent State men’s indoor track and field team finished in third place and the women’s team finished 13th this weekend as the teams participated in the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup.

It was the third consecutive weekend the Flashes were on the road, traveling to State College, Pa. as the Penn State Nittany Lions hosted this two-day meet.

The Nittany Lions made a strong second-day push, jumping from sixth place to second, finishing just ahead of the Flashes. Penn State finished with 88 points while the Flashes finished with 87.5.

Ohio State claimed first place in the men’s meet, finishing with a two-day total of 107 points, and Kent State rival Akron ended in fourth with 73.5 points.

A trio of Kent State seniors: Mike Inge, Phil Rickaby and Seth Hutchinson guided the team to its third-place finish.

Inge was one of the more active athletes on the weekend. He finished first in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:49.38. He anchored the team’s 4 x 400-meter relay team and he ran the first leg for the distance medley squad, which finished second.

Rickaby echoed his performance at Notre Dame last weekend, defeating a field of more than 20 to claim first place in the long jump, with a distance of 7.45 meters. Senior I. Perfection Harris finished fourth, with a mark of 7.24m.

Hutchinson competed in the mile run as well as the 5000-meter run. He finished fourth in the mile with a time of 4:13.52, behind Kent State sophomore Tony Jordanek, who finished first. In the 5000-meter run, Hutchinson finished sixth with a time of 14:33.83.

For the women, Kent State senior Stephanie Blackstone had the best finish, placing fourth in the 5000-meter run. Sophomore sprinter Sha-Tira Snell finished sixth for the Flashes in the 55-meter hurdle with a time of 8.08 seconds.

Junior Stephanie Hunt placed seventh in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.15 seconds. In the weight throw, the Flashes had two women finish in the top 10. Junior LeVania Henderson finished fifth with a mark of 18.80 meters while freshman Effua Ampadu finished 10th with a distance of 16.87 meters.

Contact track and field Steve Voicik at [email protected].