Miners' Groom makes provisional mark in javelin throw
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Heath Groom, who did not compete for the Missouri S&T track and field team last season while recovering from an injury, showed everyone that he is back in a big way.
Groom finished second in the javelin throw Saturday at the Alabama Relays with a throw of 204-9, which easily cleared the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark and came close to the automatic mark in the event. The automatic mark is 209-11.
He is the second Miner to reach an NCAA provisional mark, joining pole vaulter Jared Anders who made his qualifying mark last week at Washington University.
After Groom's performance, the highest individual finish in the first two days came from Joffroi Holcombe in the 10,000-meters where he posted a time of 32:35.02 to place third on Friday night. Jordan Henry finished fourth in the invitational pole vault event with a mark of 15-3 and Ian Packard had a fifth place effort in the 400-meters in 48.56 seconds, narrowly missing the provisional mark in that event.
Peter Hollenbeck took sixth in the pole vault at 15-3 as was Kal-El Waters-Jones in the triple jump where he had a mark of 45-9. Grant Brown was seventh in the 10,000-meters in 34:37.56, the same place where Allen Ernst finished in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a mark of 10:02.82 and Jeremiah Johnson in the shot put with a mark of 45-9 3/4. Johnson also had an eighth place finish in the discus throw of 127-4.
Jeff Pike had a 10th place finish in the triple jump at 42-11 3/4 as was Lucas Jaster in the shot put with a throw of 42-9 3/4.
In the relays, the Miners' top finish came from its 4x1500-meter relay team of Brendan Smith, Thomas Green, Ernst and Brandon Etzold, which placed second in the event behind Indiana with a time of 16:38.36.
Ben Hicks recorded a time of 16:38.56 in the 5,000-meters while Kurt Schauwecker finished with a time of 16:47.17.
Packard had a strong showing in the 200-meters with a time of 21.97 seconds to take second in his flight, while Mike Wilson had a time of 22.58 in his heat. Wilson also had a time of 11.05 seconds and Brett Vessell a mark of 11.20 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
Etzold posted a time of 1:56.18 in the 800-meters and Smith had a mark of 1:56.85 in the event, while Green had a time of 4:02.05 in the 1,500-meters. Wes Everhart had a mark of 155-11 in the javelin throw to finish 14th.
The Miners' 4x400-meter relay team finished seventh in a time of 3:19.96 and had a fourth place showing in the sprint medley relay with a time of 3:34.28.