Both track and field teams finish third at MVC meet

Both track and field teams finished third at the Missouri Valley Conference track and field meets that ended May 17, and neither of the head coaches were too pleased, but accepted it.

Head men's track and field coach John McNichols expected to finish second in the meet, since Northern Iowa was the clear favorite.

"We were picked to finish second and that was a pretty logical decision by the coaches in the league," McNichols said. "I felt like we should have been able to [give UNI a run]…but, third's not bad, [it was] just hard to stomach at the time."

Head women's track and field coach John Gartland said he pretty well expected a third-place finish.

"We beat the teams we were capable of beating," Gartland said. "Good or bad, third is kind of where we are."

The 2009 outdoor track and field season represented the first time in four years the Sycamores had hosted an outdoor track meet. The track was resurfaced last year and McNichols complimented it.

"The track's in as good a shape as we've ever had," McNichols said. "All our staff really did a nice job."

The weather did cause a few problems for the meet, however, and Sycamore senior Anthony Bertoli felt the issues with it.

He ran the decathlon, and finished third in the event, but had very little time in between events, especially after the 1,500 meters when he had 15 minutes to get ready for the preliminaries of a hurdles event.

McNichols said he expected the men's 4x100-meter relay team to give the Sycamore men a little momentum after they won the event on Sunday. He said it gave the Sycamores some momentum, but not enough to continue throughout the rest of the meet.

Junior Eric Schulz finished third in two events: the 10,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run.

Freshman Brandon Pounds won the shot put and sophomore Major Clay won the high jump.

For the women, junior Erica Moore won the heptathlon, 400-meter hurdles and finished second on the 4x400-meter relay team.

Junior Lauren Martin finished second in the long jump, first in the triple jump and finished second on said 4x400-meter relay team.

Junior Kylie Hutson won the pole vault and senior Heather Stembridge finished second in the 1,500-meter run.