Rio men place eighth in Montreat Invitational

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MONTREAT, N.C. - The University of Rio Grande men's track and field team recorded eight individual Top 10 finishes and had one relay team post a runner-up showing to pave the way for an eighth place finish as a team at the Montreat College Invitational.
     The two-day event wrapped up on Saturday at Pulliam Stadium.
     Rio Grande finished with 36 points as a team, which was good enough for eighth place in the 24-team competition.
     Marian (Ind.) University won the team championship with 161 points. Lenoir-Rhyne University was second with 97 points, while UNC-Asheville was third at 79 points.
     Sophomore Tyler Jenkins (Barnesville, OH) was the runner-up in the 1,500-meter run after crossing in 3:59.98. He became just the second Rio runner since 2010 to finish in under four minutes.
     Graduate senior AJ Gruttadauro (Brockport, NY) finished third in the 5,000-meter race walk with a time of 24:48.09. The mark hit the "A" qualifying standard for the NAIA National Championships, which are scheduled for May 22-24 at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind.
     Other Top 10 outings included senior Chase McClay (McDermott, OH), who was fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.10; junior Danuel Persinger (Bidwell, OH), who took sixth place in the 5,000-meter run after finishing in 15:39.60; senior Kyle Lightner (Peebles, OH), who was sixth in the javelin throw at 48.98m and seventh in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.34; senior Haden Karshner (Circleville, OH), who was eighth in the hammer throw with an effort covering 46.40m; and freshman Zachary Whitley (Wheelersburg, OH), who was eighth in the 5,000-meter race walk with a time of 27:57.41.
     Whitley's time represented a personal-best.
     Rio's 4x800 relay team - comprised of Lightner, Persinger, Jenkins and freshman Ashton Beverly (Chillicothe, OH) - finished second in a time of 7:55.82.
     Rio Grande also had a handful of athletes participate in the Stan Romanoski Open hosted by West Virginia University at the Mylan Park Track & Field Complex in Morgantown, W.Va.
     The only RedStorm team member to finish in the Top 10 was freshman Rowen Gerlach (New Haven, WV), who finished sixth in the men's hammer throw with a heave of 45.91m.
     Rio Grande is slated to return to action on Saturday at the YellowJacket Collegiate Outdoor Open in Cedarville, Ohio.