GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The Franklin College men's track and field team headed to DePauw for the second weekend in a row, taking part in Saturday's (Feb. 12) DePauw Indoor Invitational and the final tune-up ahead of the conference championships.
The final event of the regular season proved a successful one for the Grizzly men, as they accumulated 85.5 points to place third out of 11 teams.
Franklin's lone event win of the day came in the weight throw, where senior Zak Wiley smashed his pervious PR and moved into second place on the program's top-10 list with a mark of 17.30m. Sophomore Noah Sigler turned in a strong showing to earn a second place finish in the weight throw, recording a mark of 15.82m. Over in the pole vault, freshman Tivon Wiley claimed fourth place after clearing the 3.35m bar.
On the track, senior Michael Heading claimed a new PR in the 600m run with a time of 1:30.70 and earned a second place finish, one spot ahead of junior Henry Davidson who also set a new PR in the race with a showing of 1:32.05.
A trio of distance runners set new personal best times in the 1000m run, with Elliott Gough (2:45.82) taking second place, Eli Cochrane (2:46.46) placing third and Drew Hargis (2:48.48) grabbing fourth.
Junior Nick Patton turned in a strong showing in the 60m hurdles, taking fourth place with a time of 8.96 seconds. Luke Paddock took fourth and set a new PR in the 400m in 53.28. In the mile, sophomore Jack Sells (4:39.23) and freshman John Asplund (4:41.11) claimed new PRs on their way to fifth and sixth places, respectively.
The 4x400m relay of Heading, Paddock, Cochrane and Zach Roberts took home second place in 3:37.02. Patton, Davidson, Wiley and Roberts teamed up for a fourth place showing in the 4x200m relay in 1:37.41.
The Grizzlies will hit the road next Saturday (Feb. 19) for the 2022 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Indoor Championships, held in Defiance, Ohio. The day's festivities will begin at 1:00 p.m.
