Mineral Area men’s track team second at nationals

UTICA, N.Y. – The Mineral Area men are bringing home the runner-up trophy for a second straight year following a rewarding weekend at the NJCAA Division III track and field championships.

Hunter Cary repeated his decathlon title on Friday afternoon, and the Cardinals crowned three other individual national champions in a variety of races over three days at Mohawk Valley Community College.

Jacob Arnold earned top honors with a 10k run that broke 34 minutes, and freshman Bradley Ahrens claimed victory in the 1500 after being the eighth fastest in qualifying.

Along with another strong showing by the distance specialists, the Cardinals also picked up a sprinting triumph on Saturday from Sie’ntez Lerma with a winning 400 time of 48.19 seconds.

Mineral Area compiled 15 all-American performances – 10 from the men and five from the women – based on top-three results in their respective events. Medals were awarded to the top six.

Farmington graduate Emma Gerstner became a two-time women’s all-American after placing second in the triple jump and third in the long jump. She also contributed points during two sprint events.

The men’s team championship was claimed by DuPage, which created a 14-point margin of victory over the Cardinals in the final two events of 22 overall at the three-day gathering.

Mineral Area held a 1-point edge heading into the 5000-meter run. DuPage likewise had three entries in that race, and freshman Nicholas Keeling delivered a pivotal title win while teammate Alex Huerta finished fourth.

Cary faced 11 other competitors in the grueling decathlon, and placed first in the 110-meter hurdles, javelin throw and both the 100 and 400 sprints.

By landing second in the long jump, high jump, discus throw and shot put, Cary built a large enough lead to skip the 1500 and still amass 5429 points.

Lerma secured three all-America honors overall after bolting to second place in the 200. He combined with Anthony Treadwell, Kingston graduate Dylan Morrison and Valle Catholic graduate Cory Stoll as the runner-up 4×100 relay squad behind DuPage.

Trenton Braswell starred for the Cardinals as another three-time All-American in field competition. His best result was second in the discus throw at 141 feet, 6 inches.

Braswell claimed third spot in the shot put and javelin events, and was fifth in the hammer throw to supply 24 team points.

Ahrens added a second-place run in the 800, and anchored a fifth-place 4×800 relay effort. Stoll helped bolster the Cardinals by taking fourth in the 100, fifth in the 200 and sixth in the long jump.

Other men’s medalists included Dale Propst in javelin, Treadwell in long jump, Gavin Cartwright in high jump, Austin Dunn in triple jump, Arnold in the 5000 and Cary in the 110-meter hurdles.

Harper College pulled away from Dupage and Joliet to capture its second women’s national title by an impressive margin of 42 ½ points.

Mineral Area salvaged fifth with a more limited contingent. Its highest-scoring event was the 10k where three runners placed inside the top five.

Riley Petsch was national runner-up at 45:04.47, followed by a second all-American as teammate Abigail Dean crossed third. Laura Maddox was fifth for the Cardinals.

Gerstner moved up the standings of the triple jump by spanning 36 feet, 5 inches on her fifth of six total attempts Thursday, and was only topped by Prince George’s freshman Serena Prince.

Gerstner soared 17 feet, 4 inches for third best in the long jump, and notched results of fifth place in the 100 and seventh in the 200.

Laine Cottrell darted across the line for second in the 400, repeating her all-American performance from the same event last season. The MAC sophomore also took fourth in the 200.

Petsch was fifth in the 5000 while field specialist Molly Gearhart finished sixth in the hammer throw.

The Cardinals were listed as disqualified from the women’s 4×800 relay.

Men’s Team Scores (Top 10):

1. DuPage 144.50; 2. Mineral Area 130.50; 3. RC-Gloucester 81; 4. Thaddeus Stevens 74; 5. Suffolk 67; 6. Harper 65.50; 7. Hudson Valley 48; 8. Queensborough 42; 9. Joliet 31; 10. SUNY-Broome 27

Women’s Team Scores (Top 10):

1. Harper 138.50; 2. DuPage 96; 3. Joliet 77; 4. Suffolk 63; 5. Mineral Area 62; 6. SUNY-Broome 55; 7. Camden County 47; 8. Onondaga 45; 9. RC-Gloucester 42; 10. Howard 38

MAC Men’s Results:

Decathlon – 1. Hunter Cary, 5429 (100 – 11.06; Long Jump – 6.06m; Shot Put – 11.24m; High Jump – 1.81m; 400 – 52.16; 110 Hurdles – 15.76; Discus – 34.64m; Pole Vault – 2.80m; Javelin – 40.07m; 1500 – DNS)

10000 – 1. Jacob Arnold, 33:59.61; 8. Devin St. Clair, 36:03.80; 10. Elijah Myers, 37:58.32

1500 – 1. Bradley Ahrens, 3:59.52; 15. Grayson Knernschield, 4:21.43

400 – 1. Sie’ntez Lerma, 48.19

200 – 2. Sie’ntez Lerma, 21.61; 5. Cory Stoll, 22.41

800 – 2. Bradley Ahrens, 1:56.49; 13. Levi Wiegand, 2:03.50

Discus – 2. Trenton Braswell, 141-06; 12. Josh Duerr, 112-09; 13. Dale Propst, 109-05

4×100 – 2. Mineral Area (Sie’ntez Lerma, Anthony Treadwell, Dylan Morrison, Cory Stoll), 42.92

Javelin – 3. Trenton Braswell, 168-06; 5. Dale Propst, 145-11; 9. Hunter Cary, 128-02

Shot Put – 3. Trenton Braswell, 44-01.50; 9. Dale Propst, 40-02.00

100 – 4. Cory Stoll, 11.14; 8. Sie’ntez Lerma, 12.12

4×800 – 5. Mineral Area (Jacob Arnold, Levi Wiegand, Grayson Knernschield, Bradley Ahrens), 8:12.60

Hammer – 5. Trenton Braswell, 138-09

Long Jump – 5. Anthony Treadwell, 21-08.25; 6. Cory Stoll, 21-06.00; 10. Austin Dunn, 20-02.50

High Jump – 5. Gavin Cartwright, 6-00; NH. Austin Dunn; NH. Hunter Cary

Triple Jump – 5. Austin Dunn, 44-04.75; 8. Anthony Treadwell, 43-00.50

5000 – 6. Jacob Arnold, 16:11.75; 8. Bradley Ahrens, 16:25.61; 13. Devin St. Clair, 16:58.41

110 Hurdles – 6. Hunter Cary, 15.96; 9. Mitchell Meyer, 22.53

4×400 – 8. Mineral Area (Dylan Morrison, Levi Wiegand, Toby Brown, Bradley Ahrens), 3:32.77

3000 Steeplechase – 9. Levi Wiegand, 11:56.55

Pole Vault – 9. Cody Bishop, 11-03

400 Hurdles– 13. Mitchell Meyer, 1:01.91

MAC Women’s Results:

Triple Jump – 2. Emma Gerstner, 36-05.00

10000 – 2. Riley Petsch, 45:04.47; 3. Abigail Dean, 45:49.21; 5. Laura Maddox, 47:28.59

400 – 2. Laine Cottrell, 1:00.51; 10. Alize Litton, 1:06.90

Long Jump – 3. Emma Gerstner, 17-04

200 – 4. Laine Cottrell, 26.56; 7. Emma Gerstner, 27.06    

5000 – 5. Riley Petsch, 20:27.58; 9. Laura Maddox, 21:34.91; 10. Abigail Dean, 21:59.72

100 – 5. Emma Gerstner, 12.97; 8. Laine Cottrell, 13.61

Hammer – 6. Molly Gearhart, 27.62

Discus – 7. Molly Gearhart, 100-02

100 Hurdles – 8. Kiera Finn, 18.23                                            

4×400 – 9. Mineral Area (Alize Litton, Rachel Wilson, Kiera Finn, Riley Petsch), 4:35.50

Shot Put – 9. Molly Gearhart, 30-06.25

1500 – 11. Rachel Wilson, 5:26.51; 15. Melayna Brown, 5:48.53

400 Hurdles – 14. Kiera Finn, 1:23.23        

4×800 – DQ. Mineral Area (Riley Petsch, Laura Maddox, Melayna Brown, Rachel Wilson)