SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Juniors Mike Olson (Sutton, Mass.) and Ian Griffiths (Bedford, Mass.) paced the Plymouth State University men's outdoor track & field team with a pair of top-eight finishes to help PSU to a 13th place team finish at the Tufts Snowflake Classic on Saturday.
 
Griffiths jumpstarted the Panthers in the 100-meter dash prelims where he finished fifth overall after winning his heat with a time of 11.52 seconds. In the finals he took a scoring spot with a time of 11.39 seconds to place seventh.
 
Olson began his day in the 1500-meter run as the third overall seed. He kept up with the lead pack the entire way before crossing the line in fifth place in 4:03.98.
 
Olson also teamed up with sophomores Ryan Moyer (Dover, N.H.) and Jyaire Hatcher (Uniondale, N.Y.) and freshman Christian Oglesby (Penacook, N.H.) to take a top three finish in the 4x400-meter relay.
 
Plymouth State placed 13th with 18 points in the highly competitive meet.
 
The Basics:

• Tufts Snowflake Classic – 13th of 18 Teams
  • MIT (155), Tufts (128.5), Wesleyan (79), Trinity (60), Conn. College (58), Babson (51), Wheaton (44), Wentworth (40), Fitchburg State (35) Suffolk (32), Gordon (29), Colby-Sawyer (22), Plymouth State (18), Husson (16.5), Brandeis (5), UMass Boston (2)

How it Happened:

• In addition to Griffiths' seventh place showing in the 100-meter dash, he added a seventh-place finish in the long jump.
• Olson was joined in the 1500m by junior Michael Barrett (Hartford, Conn.), who finished in 4:16.99.
• Senior Randall Scroggins (Rumney, N.H.) represented Plymouth State in the 3000-meter steeplechase and took seventh.
• The 400-meter run trio of Hatcher, Moyer and senior CJ Miller (Branford, Conn.) posted top-20 finishes with times of 52.37, 52.83 and 53.25, respectively.
• Oglesby led the Panthers in the 200-meter dash with a 17th place finish in a time of 23.48 seconds.
• The freshmen duo of Jacob Gallaher (Gambrills, Md.) and Connor Wilcox (Colchester, Conn.) paced each other to top-15 finishes in the 5000-meter run with Gallaher winning their heat in 16:10.50 and Wilcox just two seconds behind.
• Senior Ryan Latorella (Loudon, N.H.) represented the throwers in the hammer throw and discus throw events with top-20 finishes in each.
• The foursome of Moyer, Oglesby, Hatcher and Olson capped the day with a third-place finish in the 4x400m relay in 3:30.39.

 
Up Next:

• The Panthers are back in Massachusetts next Saturday (Apr. 9) as they compete at the Gordon College Invitational at 10:00 a.m.