Track Has Final Tune-up Before Nationals at Slippery Rock

McKeesport, PA. – With the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National meet just one week away, PSUGA’s seven qualifying athletes are looking to hone their skills at the second to last meet of the regular season when they head to the Slippery Rock Open Invitational Thursday at 10:30 a.m. The remaining athletes who have not qualified will be looking to make their mark and punch their ticket to the National tournament in Burlington, VT.

Sprints have been dominating for PSUGA led by the teams top two runners in Eladia Kennedy (Pittsburgh, PA./Imani Christian Academy) and James Plez (Philadelphia, PA./Northeast HS). Both came through with big showings at the Westminster Invitational last time out, pacing the group of PSUGA competitors.

Kennedy added two more top 20 finishes to her record this season competing in both the 100-Meter and the 200-Meter Dash. She began her day with a 19^th place finish in the 200-Meter Dash posting a time of 28.92, just .41 seconds off of her personal record. She would then come out in the 100-Meter and once again finished in the top 20 coming in at 20^th with a time of 13.98. Kennedy has qualified in both events and is looking to get her times down heading into nationals.

For Plez, he competed in three different events at Westminster running in the 100-Meter and 200-Meter as well as competing in the men’s long jump. He shined on the track finishing 50^th in the 200-Meter coming in at 25.34 and 36^th in the 100-Meter with a time of 12.36. Plez’s first event of the day was the long jump and he came in at 4.36 meters good for 36^th in the field.

Heading to nationals with Kennedy and Plez will be freshmen Davin Manfredi (Pleasant Hills, PA./Thomas Jefferson), Jesse Vargo (North Huntington, Pa./Norwin HS), Namy Makiese (Pittsburgh, PA./Allderdice HS), and DJ Impavido (Pittsburgh, PA./Trinity Christian HS). However, there are several athletes to watch who are right on the cusp of qualifying for the big event entering Thursday’s meet.

Jalen Bolger (Philadelphia, PA./Philadelphia Electrical Technician Charter HS) and Raeann Sleith (North Huntington, PA./Norwin HS) are both on the cusp in shot put. Bolger has PRed at 7.28 meters and needs to add just 0.72 meters to his distance to qualify while Sleith’s PR sits at 7.19 putting her just .07 meters away from qualifying. Both are very achievable coming into the meet as both athletes look to add their name to the list of qualifiers.

Thursday’s Slippery Rock Open Invitational is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the field events followed by the Track events starting at 12 p.m. The meet will be held at Slippery Rock’s Mihalik-Thompson Stadium on the main campus.