Track athletes take two events, break three school records at Rider/Lafayette Invitational

NEW YORK - Being in a field peppered with Division I athletes at the Rider/Lafayette Invitational Friday evening certainly did not intimidate the Salisbury University track & field team as the Sea Gulls collected a pair of victories and took down three school records.

Senior Delannie Spriggs (Owings, Md.) and senior Brandon Fugett (Randallstown, Md.) continued their strong winter season, while sophomore Amanda Zyzak (Damascus, Md.) kept attacking the school record book.

Fugett dominated the shot put field, not committing a single foul while breaking the school record with a toss of 56 feet, 11.25 inches. The senior broke his own school record by more than a foot and was clear of his closest competitor by a foot as well. The defending outdoor national champion in the shot put also put on quite a show in the weight throw, finishing second, with a throw of 55 feet, 4 inches, coming up just shy of his own school record.

Springgs took home the 60-meter dash, with a time of 6.84 seconds, just four one-hundredths shy of his own school record. Spriggs was better than the next closest competitor, Division I Central Connecticut State University’s Aaron Raden, by .15 seconds. Spriggs also took home fifth-place in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 22.00 seconds, breaking Sam Sigleton’s previously held school record (22.47) by nearly half a second.

For Zyzak, it was all about taking down the school record -- again. Zyzak already set the bar in the women’s 60-meter dash earlier this season, and Friday she bettered that mark. The sophomore posted a time of 8.29 seconds, shaving .06 seconds off her previous best, finishing in 22nd place.

The Sea Gulls had a handful of top 15 finishers on the men’s side as well as the first action of the season for Cory Beebe (Medina, Ohio), the defending outdoor national champion in the 400-meter hurdles. Beebe competed in the 400-meter dash, placing 16th with a time of 50.66, .27 seconds shy of another school record.

The Sea Gulls will have three more chances to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this season. Salisbury will next travel to Newport News, Va., to compete in the Mason-Dixon Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, Feb. 20.