Feb. 28, 2010

Complete Results
Day One Scores

FARGO, N.D. - The men's distance medley relay team of senior Michael Flemming, senior Kevin Luce, junior David Magnotte and senior Jason Bigelow defended its championship title with a league, school and facility record time of 10:01.32, highlighting day one of the Oakland University indoor track and field team's competition at The Summit League Indoor Championship at the Bison Arena.

"Today was a lot of fun," said head coach Paul Rice. "We set high expectations for these guys and the athletes held up their end of the bargain. The DMR guys really put on a great show today and as usual Bigelow put it away in come from behind fashion as the anchor leg. It is great to see Jason and Mike finishing their careers on top like this. They should both have great races in the mile tomorrow."

After the first day of competition the men's team is tied with Southern Utah for fourth place with 24 points, while North Dakota State has the lead with 47 points. On the women's side, the Golden Grizzlies are in seventh place with six points. The Bison also lead the women's competition with 82 points.

Senior Jeff Decator also earned a top-three finish for the Black and Gold, coming in second place in the long jump with a school record leap of 23 feet, 3.5 inches, becoming the first Golden Grizzly to finish in the top three in a field event final.

In the 3,000, senior Zack Jones finished fourth in the 3,000 with a time of 8:35.10, while freshman Tony Schafer also scored in the event with an eighth place time of 8:44.66. Luce also qualified for tomorrow's 60 hurdles final with a time of 8.53.The men's team also has two Golden Grizzlies in tomorrow's 60 dash final with Decator finishing third with a school record time of 6.88 and senior Dave Thomas in seventh (7.11).

"I was really impressed with Kevin Luce and Dave Thomas today, both securing spots in the finals tomorrow," said Rice.

Senior Adam Grubius also threw a school record and personal best 49 feet, 5.75 inches in the weight throw and sophomore Ryan Balzer became the first Golden Grizzly to compete in the heptathlon and is currently in sixth place with 2,447 points after five events

For the women, sophomore Breanna Peabody set a school record in the 60 hurdles prelims, qualifying in fourth place with a time of 8.86. Sophomore Desiree Pettiford also qualified for tomorrow's 400-meter dash final with a seventh place time of 59.01.

The women's DMR team of freshman Autumn Cleverley, senior Melissa Martinez, sophomore Emily Wickemeyer and sophomore Lia Jones finished fourth with a time of 12:15.55. Senior Sara Lieblein also scored for OU with an eighth place finish of 10:14.92 in the 3,000.

In the field events, freshman Shannon Getchen broke her own school record in the weight throw with a distance of 43 feet, 9.25 inches.

"The women struggled just a bit today, but are in a position to have a nice day tomorrow," said Rice. "The DMR matched the school record and achieved our highest ever finish in that event. Sara Lieblein also put in a great race today, scoring for us in the 3K. I know the ladies are looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow and showing their strengths."

With the first day of meet action in the books, the Golden Grizzlies will finish out the indoor season tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. with the conclusion of the men's heptathlon. Field events will kick off at 11 a.m. with the shot put, while milers will hit the track first at noon. Live results can be followed at www.ougrizzlies.com.

*Note: The distance medley times have been converted due to track length.

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