Peoples Breaks School Record At Penn State National

January 28 | Track & Field

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior Tyshaun Peoples broke the school record in the 60 hurdles and senior Valerie Wert placed second in the weight throw to highlight day one for The University of Akron track and field team at the Penn State National Friday at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.

Peoples finished second in his heat in both the prelims (7.99) and semifinals (7.98) before rewriting his own school record (7.89) set last February with a time of 7.83 to capture fourth place in the finals. Wert took second in the weight throw with a toss of 64-03.75, which represents a season high by an Akron thrower on the women's team. It was also just shy of her PR (64-09.75), set at the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships in 2009.

The Zips also received a strong performance from their distance medley relay team - comprised of sophomore Zachary Goulet, freshman Gabriel Genovesi, sophomore J'Lani Pryce and junior Joe McCoy - which clocked a time of 10:04.23. The time ranked ninth among the field but was more than 10 seconds faster than last week's performance at the All-Ohio Championships.

Sophomore Brittany Cheese finished sixth in the long jump with a season-high leap of 19-02.50, which was a quarter of an inch shy of her PR. Junior Phil Ferguson, the reigning MAC Track Athlete of the Week, failed to qualify for the finals in the 60 meters but posted a PR in both the prelims and semifinals with identical times of 6.85.

Senior Collister Fahie took 10th place - out of 30 individuals - in the long jump with a mark of 23-05.25 while sophomore Daryl Baptiste placed 15th with a mark of 22-08.00. Junior Eric Hubbard was the top thrower on the men's side with a seventh-place finish and a mark of 62-03.75.

The Zips will resume competition at the Penn State National Saturday morning starting with the men's 400 at 10:20 a.m. Follow all the results on-line by following this link.