Henry wins pole vault, Etzold posts solid mark at ISU
JOPLIN, Mo. -- Missouri S&T junior Jordan Henry continued his run of strong performances in the pole vault by winning the event Saturday at the Radio Shack Invitational at Missouri Southern State University, while Brandon Etzold had a strong showing in the 800-meters a few hundred miles north.
Henry, who has won the last two Great Lakes Valley Conference "Athlete of the Week" awards and who made the NCAA Division II automatic qualifying mark a week ago in the event, cleared that mark again Saturday by going over the bar at 16-6 to win the competition. Three others -- all with ties to the host school -- also went over at 16-6 but Henry had fewer misses to end up on top.
In Ames, Iowa, Etzold posted a school record time of 1:53.95 in the 800-meters in an event that included a number of runners from the NCAA Division I ranks.
The Miners' other top finishes Saturday at MSSU came from Thomas Green, who took second in the mile with a mark of 4:29.16 and Paul Roland, who also finished second in the 800-meters in 1:58.97. Kal-El Waters-Jones had a fifth place mark in the triple jump at 46-4 which put him near the NCAA Division II provisional mark.
The Miners got a sixth place showing from Brandon Cundiff in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:18.02, while Kevin Thompson was 10th in 1:18.30. Thomas Sands was 10th in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.96 seconds and Chris Teel was 12th in the 800-meters in 2:03.63.
Peter Hollenbeck and Dan Hellwig tied for 10th in the pole vault as both cleared 14-8 1/4 and Lucas Jaster came in 13th in the shot put with a mark of 44-11 1/2.
S&T also got a time of 3:37.22 from its 4x400-meter relay team.
At Iowa State, the Miners had three other distance runners taking part in the Iowa State Classic, with the top finish coming from Brendan Smith in the mile with a time of 4:23.40 for a 19th place finish. Allen Ernst had a time of 4:27.16 in the event as well, while Kurt Schauwecker posted a mark of 9:17.80 in the 3,000-meters.
The Miners' next meet will be the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships, set for March 1 in Crawfordsville, Ind.
Complete results from Missouri Southern
Complete results from Iowa State