By Derek Stanley and Tim Stried
March 2, 2002

The Bluffton College track and field team competed in their first of two spring break meet on March 1 and 2 in a small college meet at the Mike Long Track on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

"Even though we only brought about half the team, this meet was above average for us," said head coach Derek Stanley. "On top of the good performances throughout the day, Rachael Szydlowski ran an outstanding race to close out the competition, which I was very pleased with."

Noteworthy performances were turned in on both the men's and women's side. For the women Jana Hammer ran a PR in the 400 meter dash (65.60) and came back strong in the 200 meter dash (28.31). Ben Noll had a good performance coming back from injury in the 800-meter dash running a 2:42. Rachel Noirot took third in the pole vault clearing 6-6.75. And finally, Szydlowski took 45 seconds off of her personal best in the 5000 meter run to take third in the race finishing with a 20:49.

On the men's side, Patrick Craun opened up the season in the javelin throwing 123-3, and Steve Borga pulled off yet another PR in the 5000 meter run as he completed the race in 17:14. Kevin Ross threw a PR in the shot put (41-2.25) and came back strong in the discus throwing 115-7. Travis Lepley threw well in his first hammer competition of his career finishing seventh with a throw of 106-10.