Mason shines for RedStorm men in season opener
Rio Grande Sports Information
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - University of Rio Grande sophomore Troy Mason smashed a 17-year-old meet record and took first place in the 200-meter dash, leading the RedStorm's performance in the men's division of the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Challenge, which concluded on Saturday afternoon at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
Mason, a native of Grenville, Grenada, set a new school record and met the "A" qualifying standard for the NAIA National Championship in May after crossing the finish line in a time of 20.93.
His time broke the previous meet record of 21.03, set by Alonzo Spurley of Charleston Southern University on March 15, 2008.
Mason was also part of Rio's 4x200 relay team, which finished third in a new school record time of 1:27.61, in addition to the 4x100 relay unit which finished fourth in 41.91 - the second-fastest time in school history.
Both teams also included junior Travon Houston (Cleveland, OH), freshman Mason Coffman (Washington Court House, OH) and junior Daunevyn Woodson (Gallipolis, OH).
The RedStorm's "A" entry in the 4x800 relay finished second and met the national "B" standard with a time of 7:39.93. The quartet included sophomore Kasy Science (Marietta, OH), sophomore Ashton Beverly (Chillicothe, OH), freshman Wes Taylor (Lancaster, OH) and freshman John Young (Leroy, OH).
Rio also received a trio of scoring performances as an individual from Rowen Gerlach.
The New Haven, W.Va. sophomore was third in both the discus (48.52m) and shot put (15.54m), while placing seventh in the hammer throw (48.32m).
Gerlach's effort in the discus ranked second on the school's all-time list.
Also posting scoring performances for Rio Grande was junior Tyler Jenkins (Barnesville, OH), who was second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:54.76; sophomore JJ Larue (Chillicothe, OH), who was fifth in the 1,500-meter Open with a time of 4:16.85; Taylor, who took fifth place in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase with a time of 9:40.87; Houston, who was sixth in the 400-meter run with a time of 48.75; freshman Keegan McKinney (Baltimore, OH), who took sixth place in the shot put with a heave of 14.50m; Young, who finished seventh in the 3,000-meter run at 8:49.54; freshman Duncan Kogei (Eldoret, Kenya), who was seventh in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:00.37; freshman Anton Meinlschmidt (Weibeyoke, Germany), who was seventh in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase with a time of 9:47.06; and graduate senior Chase McClay (McDermott, OH), who was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.46.
The times for Jenkins, Houston, Young all rank second on Rio's all-time performance list in their particular event.
Two other RedStorm relay units also scored by finishing eighth in their respective races.
The "B" entry in the 4x800 - featuring senior Danuel Persinger (Glouster, OH), Larue, Jenkins and freshman Ryder Crawford (Owensville, OH) - posted a time of 8:12.32, while the 4x400 team of Beverly, Larue, McClay and Persinger recorded a mark of 3:32.00.
As a team, Rio Grande placed fourth among the 30 scoring squads with 70 points - one point behind third-place Coastal Carolina.
Appalachian State won the team crown with 142 points, while UNC-Wilmington was second with 89 points.
Rio Grande's weekend also included two entries in the 5,000-meter race walk at the Cumberlands Early Season Meet, hosted by the University of the Cumberlands at James H. Taylor II Stadium in Williamsburg, Ky.
Sophomore Zach Whitley (Wheelersburg, OH) took second place and met the national "A" standard with a time of 23:14.08, while junior Mugisha Pomossene (Dayton, OH) took fourth place and hit the "B" standard with a time of 25:22.61.
Rio Grande is slated to return to action March 28-29 at the Carnegie Mellon Invite in Pittsburgh, Pa.