Men's Track Continues Strong Outdoor Season at Vanderbilt Black and Gold
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? The Belmont men's track and field team continued to produce strong outdoor performances on Saturday at the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational. The Bruins posted 12 top-15 finishes at the two-day meet.
On the track, sophomore Marcus Bridger-Wilkinson (Newbury, England) notched BU's highest place finish, taking second in the 1500m with a time of 3:49.87. Junior Josh Helton (Franklin, Tenn.) and freshman Kurtis Gibson (Highbridge, England) took sixth (3:55.01) and ninth (3:59.39) in the event, respectively. Junior Matt Miller (LaPorte, Ind.) finished third in the 3000m with a time of 8:34.15 with classmate Brandon Mahaney (Lafayette, Tenn.) and freshman David Everett (St. Louis, Mo.) finished 12th (8:45.81) and 13th (8:45.09), respectively.
The 800m saw Gibson take 10th (1:56.23) and Helton grab 15th (1:57.15) in a deep field. Sophomore Tyler Newkirk (Atchison, Kan.) crossed the line 12th in the 200m with a time of 23.63. In the 400m Hurdles, sophomore Zach Gray (Lee's Summitt, Mo.) took eighth (55.92) while classmate Caleb Darnell (56.64) finished 12th.
In the heavily contested field events, the Bruins collected six top-30 finishes. Newkirk took 18th in the Long Jump with a mark of 5.84m. Freshman Collier Roberts finished 12th in the Javelin with a mark of 49.52m while Newkirk took 20th in the event (36.58). Freshman Zach Hughes' (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) Hammer toss of 34.02m notched him a 25th-place finish while classmate Cole Phillips (Franklin, Tenn.) took 29th (24.38m) in the event. Hughes also finished 28th in the Discus with a mark of 36.11m.
The Bruins return to action on March 30 and 31 at the Raleigh Relays.
