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MILLERSVILLE - Senior Matt Tholis was named the Men's Field MVP with a dominating performance in the javelin, leading five individual champions for East Stroudsburg University at the 2013 PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which concluded Saturday at Millersville.
Tholis hit a mark of 223-11 to win his first career PSAC title after finishing as the runner-up a year ago. The mark, an NCAA automatic qualifier, is just off his top mark this year of 226-5, which ranks #3 in Division II entering the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Colorado State-Pueblo.
Sophomore Damien Boham (400m - 47.66), senior Frank Fezza (1500m - 3:54.81), freshman Seth Bailey (high jump - 6-10 1/4) and sophomore Danielle Smith (100m - 12.10) also claimed individual championships for the Warriors.
ESU's men were third with 120.5 points, as Shippensburg (178) outlasted Slippery Rock (172.5) for its fifth straight outdoor title. The Warriors, second during the indoor season, finished in the top four for the fifth straight outdoor meet and 10th straight time including indoor championships.
The Warriors' women were fifth with 77 points with Shippensburg winning by 40 points (151-111) over Kutztown. The Lady Raiders won their fourth straight PSAC "Triple Crown" of cross country, indoor and outdoor titles. ESU has placed in the top five in five straight outdoor championships and nine straight times including the indoor season.
Tholis' teammate, senior Josh Hontz, was the PSAC champion in the javelin in 2011 before redshirting last year. Hontz was third at 209-5, bettering his NCAA provisional mark of 207-8.
Boham and Bailey both had the second-best marks in their events in school history. Boham gives ESU three of the last four PSAC championships in the men's 400m, following Negus Graham in 2010 and 2011. Bailey is ESU's first men's outdoor high jump champion since Mike Newhard and Brad Fees went back-to-back in 2001 and 2002.
Fezza finished his career with his first PSAC championship, winning the 1500m to cap a year in which he was an All-American and the PSAC and Atlantic Region runner-up in cross country, and finished third in the 3K and 5K at the PSAC Indoor Championships.
Smith successfully defended her 100m dash title for her fifth career PSAC championship in two years. She was one-hundredth of a second from defending her 200m title as well, running 24.72, just off Mansfield's Olivia Lopes. Smith also won PSAC titles in the 60m dash and 200m during the indoor season.
Smith's five PSAC championships are second-most by a women's track & field athlete in school history behind Sue Carden, who won seven titles (four in 5K, three in 10K) from 1979-82.
Other top efforts from the men included a second-place finish from junior Keith-Parker-Washington in the 200m (21.61) and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, along with a third-place effort from freshman William Berry in the high jump (6-6 3/4).
For the women, senior Corinne Fitzgerald was second in the 3000m steeplechase (10:44.34), senior Lauren Ventrella was third in the 100m hurdles in a school-record 14.47 and fourth in the 400m hurdles (1:03.07), sophomore Imani Rosario was fourth in the 800m (2:18.81) and junior Kim Wernerspach was fourth in the 1500m (4:40.28).
The field for the NCAA Division II Championships will be announced this week, with the national meet set for May 24-26 at Colorado State-Pueblo. Tholis is an automatic qualifier and likely participants with provisional marks include Hontz in the javelin, sophomore Travis Toth in the hammer, Bailey in the high jump and Fitzgerald in the 3000m steeplechase.
Women's Recap
ESU had five individual scoring performances in the first two days from Fitzgerald (3rd, 10K), sophomore Christina O'Connor (t-4th) and junior Theresa Horn (t-8) in the high jump and senior Aniyah Williams (3rd) and Horn (5th) in the heptathlon.
On Saturday, Smith entered as the top seed in the 100 (12.03) and #2 seed in the 200 (25.05), and finished in those spots in both events to enter her junior year with five PSAC championships.
Ventrella bettered her prelim time of 14.56 in the 100m hurdles and broke her school record of 14.53 with her time of 14.47 in the final. She ran a PR and the third-fastest time in school history in the 400m hurdles in 1:03.07. She was a nine-time individual scorer and 10-time relay scorer in her ESU career.
Rosario had her best-ever individual finish, running fourth in the 800m. Wernerspach's fourth-place in the 1500m in 4:40.28, the third-best time in school history, matches her fourth-place effort in the indoor 800m last winter.
Fitzgerald was the defending champion in the 3000m steeplechase and was 10 seconds off Bloomsburg's Victoria Davis in 10:44.34. Her school record of 10:37.95 from the Penn Relays was sixth on the NCAA's provisional list entering the weekend.
Freshman Tirzah Johnson had her first PSAC scoring performance, placing sixth in the triple jump at 36-5.
The 4x400m relay ran a season best of 3:56.99 and finished seventh with Ventrella, Williams, Smith and Rosario contributing.
Men's Recap
ESU had three scorers in both the javelin and high jump, racking up 18 points in the javelin and 16.5 points in the high jump for almost 30 percent of its weekend total of 120.5.
Tholis, the champion at 223-11, and Hontz (3rd at 209-5) were joined by freshman Thomas Freid, who was seventh at 188-9 - exactly on his seeded mark entering the meet.
Bailey's PSAC title-winning mark of 6-10 1/4 came on his first attempt at the height, and actually came after he had secured the championship. Bailey and Shippensburg's Jalen Ramsey were both over 6-8, and Bailey cleared 6-9 on his second attempt while Ramsey missed on all three of his. Bailey cleared on his third attempt at 6-6 3/4, which matched his season best, before hitting 6-8 on his first attempt.
Berry, the No. 2 seed with an NCAA provisional mark of 6-8 3/4, cleared 6-6 3/4 on his first attempt but missed all three shots at 6-8. Senior Kyle Soden was tied for eighth at 6-2 3/4.
Also in the field events, sophomore Casey Ciaston was fourth in the discus (140-3) and freshman Levi Haldeman was seventh (138-4) after entering 27th on the seeded list at 131-11. Sophomore Donovan Tolbert was fifth in the triple jump at 46-4 3/4.
On the track, Boham and Fezza set the pace with PSAC championships in their events. Boham's 47.66 in the 400m is second to Graham's record of 46.63 in ESU history. He was seeded first entering the meet, ran the prelims top time of 48.01 on Friday and was the runner-up indoors this year and outdoors as a freshman.
Fezza ran a three-second PR of 3:54.81, ESU's fifth-fastest time, to win the 1500m. It is ESU's third PSAC title in the event, following Iuri Pinto, the champion in 2007 and 2008.
Parker-Washington ran PR's both days in the 200m, running 21.61 in the final after clocking 21.76 in the prelims. His runner-up finish is his best personal showing, as he was third in the 200 as a freshman.
Freshman Mark Burgess was sixth in the 100m dash in 10.93 seconds after finishing fourth (10.80, PR) in the prelims.
Senior James Romano was eighth in the 3000m steeplechase (9:31.02), the second straight meet he scored in the event.
The 4x100m relay of sophomore Brandon Mercer, Parker-Washington, freshman Tim Wilson and Burgess was second in 41.00 seconds. The Warriors were first in the prelims in 40.98 but Slippery Rock came through at 40.92 in the final.
The 4x400m relay of sophomore Kyle Rickard, Parker-Washington, sophomore Brett Yeomans and Boham was also second in 3:15.36, a season best and the fourth-fastest in school history.
On Friday, the Warriors had five individual scorers with Toth second in the hammer (184-10), senior Andrew Sloves and freshman Eric Conard going 2-4 in the decathlon, Fezza eighth in the 5K and Parker-Washington eighth in the long jump.
Women's Team Scores
1. Shippensburg - 151
2. Kutztown - 111
3. Edinboro - 84
4. Slippery Rock - 83
5. ESU - 77
6. IUP - 73
7. Bloomsburg - 65
8. Millersville - 51
9. West Chester - 39.5
10. California - 38
11. Mansfield - 35
12. Lock Haven - 34.5
13. Clarion - 15
Men's Team Scores
1. Shippensburg - 178
2. Slippery Rock - 172.5
3. ESU - 120.5
4. Lock Haven - 88
5. Kutztown - 71
6. IUP - 47
7. Edinboro - 45.5
8. West Chester - 38.5
9. Bloomsburg - 38
10. California - 30
11. Mansfield - 22
Women's Results
100m dash
1. Danielle Smith - 12.10 (defended 2012 title)
200m
2. Danielle Smith - 24.72 (was 2012 champion - Olivia Lopes, Mansfield 24.71)
800m
4. Imani Rosario - 2:18.81
1500m
4. Kim Wernerspach - 4:40.28 [ESU #3 time]
11. Rose Mascoli - 4:46.46
3000m Steeplechase
2. Corinne Fitzgerald - 10:44.34 [NCAA provisional - has time of 10:37.95]
14. Chelsea Morales - 11:53.59
19. Kim Lowry - 12:14.20
24. Brittany Callahan - 13:22.06
100m Hurdles
3. Lauren Ventrella - 14.47 [SCHOOL RECORD]
400m Hurdles
4. Lauren Ventrella - 1:03.07 [ESU #3 time]
4x100m Relay
--. dnf
4x400m Relay
7. Lauren Ventrella (58.7), Aniyah Williams (59.9), Danielle Smith (58.9), Imani Rosario (59.5) - 3:56.99
Triple Jump
6. Tirzah Johnson - 36-5
Discus
10. Liana Ercan - 113-5
Javelin
11. Paige Fleagle - 119-10
Men's Results
100m
6. Mark Burgess - 10.93
--. Brandon Mercer
200m
2. Keith Parker-Washington - 21.61 [ESU #5 time]
400m
1. Damien Boham - 47.66 [ESU #2 time - NCAA provisional]
1500m
1. Frank Fezza - 3:54.81 [ESU #5 time]
9. Amr Aldeen - 3:58.25
19. Chris Schneider - 4:09.23
3000m Steeplechase
8. James Romano - 9:31.02
4x100m Relay
2. Brandon Mercer, Keith Parker-Washington, Tim Wilson, Mark Burgess - 41.00
4x400m Relay
2. Kyle Rickard (50.1), Keith Parker-Washington (48.7), Brett Yeomans (48.9), Damien Boham (47.4) - 3:15.36 [ESU #4 time]
110m Hurdles
--. Dmitri Mobley
High Jump
1. Seth Bailey - 6-10 1/4 [ESU #2 mark - NCAA provisional]
3. William Berry - 6-6 3/4
t-8. Kyle Soden - 6-2 3/4
t-11. Donovan Tolbert - 6-0 3/4
Pole Vault
13. Corey Smith - 14-7 1/2
14. Chris Davis - 13-7 3/4
Triple Jump
5. Donovan Tolbert - 46-4 3/4
Discus
4. Casey Ciaston - 140-3
7. Levi Haldeman - 138-4
--. Mike Smith
--. Joseph Thieme
--. Travis Toth
Javelin
1. Matt Tholis - 223-11 [Field Athlete of the Meet - NCAA automatic, has mark of 226-5]
3. Josh Hontz - 209-5 [NCAA provisional - betters mark of 207-8]
7. Thomas Freid - 188-9
