Coming off a first-place finish at the Miami Invitational, the men's track team headed into the Pace Setter Invitational with a positive attitude.
The Cardinals would prove successful once again, finishing third in a field of eight teams. BSU finished behind only host Indiana State and Ohio State. The Cards were able to beat out Eastern Illinois, who finished fourth.
Eastern Illinois took first place earlier this year at its host meet, the Big Blue Classic, in which Ball State placed second.
Highlighting the meet was Paul Panning in the pole vault, who set a new school record with a leap of 17-4 12, beating the old record by nearly 10 inches.
Panning's jump is the 14th-highest vault in the country, giving him a good chance of making an appearance at the NCAA National Championships.
The Cards also excelled in the 1,500-meter run, in which they finished second, third and fifth. Steve Schilling led Ball State in that event with a time of 3:55.61. Behind him was teammate Brian Runyon in third and Jessie Davis in fifth.
"Those were the events that really stood out," head coach Jim Sprecher said. "Overall, we were a little flat, but the effort was there, and I was really pleased with that.
"This is our third scored meet in a row, so in the earlier events you could see it catching up with us."
Ball State has shown great success in its scored meets with a second place finish at the Big Blue Classic, first place at the Miami Invitational and third place in the Pace Setter Invitational this past weekend.
There, the Cardinals were once again dominant in the javelin throw, an event in which they finished first, second and third. Sophomore Tom Green won the event with a throw of 58.11 meters. Behind him by only .01 meters was teammate Andrew Miller, followed by sophomore Matt Conly at 55.02 meters.
Senior Victor Johnson scored points for the Cardinals in both the long jump and triple jump. Johnson finished fourth in the long jump with a jump of 7.10 meters, behind the next competitor by only .02 meters.
Johnson also took sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 14.17 meters. Finishing above him in fourth for the Cardinals was senior Deighton Jarrett with a mark of 14.66 meters.
The Pace Setter marked the final scored meet of the season for the Cardinals, with the remainder focusing on individual results rather than team results. BSU has completed four of eight regular season meets, marking the halfway point in the regular season. The team's next competition will take place in Des Moines, Iowa, where it will participate in the Drake Relays.
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