The Allegheny men’s and women’s track teams showed strong performances at the Mount Union Jim Wuske Invitational.

On the men’s side, John Hughes, ’18, ran a season best in the mile and placed fifth of 30 in the event. Then Carter Smith, ’18, finished in third in the 5000m at 16:05.08. In the field events, Andre Bryan, ’18, took second in long jump and Michael Petro, ’15, placed fifth in weight throw. Bryan continued to finals, and placed second out of 33 jumpers. Petro broke the Allegheny record for the second time this season with a career performance of 17.20m.

Following the performances at Mount Union, Bryan was named Allegheny Athlete of the Week.

“It’s a good feeling,” Bryan said. “I am blessed for it and thankful for the team and coaches who pushed me to where I am.”

The women also competed well at Mount Union. Ashley Krause, ’15, qualified for finals in long and triple jumps following a season off due to injuries. Lexie Mochan, ’15, took fifth in the weight throw with 14.37m. Emma Loniewski, ’15, and Alexis Preston, ’16, took first and second, respectively, in the 1000m and Melissa McCann, ’18, came in second in the 800m with a season best of 2:27.11. Amanda Balzer, ’17, set a career mark in the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.69 seconds. Balzer moved on to finals and placed ninth.

“I have been working on being solid start to finish and seeing the most success,” Balzer said.

The track team members are using their races at Mount Union to practice techniques and prepare for the upcoming weekend of races.

“Each meet is a stepping stone,” Head coach Brent Wilkerson said. “When you run the same event four or five times, you can experiment with techniques. Each person has their own things to work on and a short list to keep in the front of their mind during meets.”

Wilkerson said the team has been working on putting solid relays together and practicing well.

“We want both [men’s and women’s] to finish top three in the conference,” Wilkerson said. “Indoor is difficult because we are not on par with the other teams in our conference.”

Bryan is hoping to work on his long jump and get a school record.

“I like to see how we grow and progress through the season,” Balzer said. “We are looking forward to records falling and stellar performances at conferences. We are on track to peak when we need to.”

This weekend the men’s and women’s teams will compete at the Baldwin Wallace Invitational on Friday Feb. 13 and the Boston University Valentine Invitational on Saturday Feb. 14.