PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Sophomore Christian Oglesby (Penacook, N.H.) was a force on the track to help the Plymouth State University men's indoor track & field team to a second-place finish at the Panther Invitational at Bank of New Hampshire Field House on Saturday.
 
Oglesby kicked off the day with a solid performance in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 53.68 seconds to win the event. He also placed in the 200-meter dash in 24.23, before caping his day with a dynamic performance as the anchor of PSU's winning 4x200-meter relay squad. Joining senior Justin Shokal (Alexandria, N.H.), junior Brandon Vachon (Ayer, Mass.) and freshman Nik Snyder (Pelham, N.H.), Oglesby received the baton in second and blew through the field, gaining the lead in the final 100 meters to secure an astonishing victory in the event.
 
Other notable finishes came from seniors Jacob Rigoli (Essex, Vt.) and Mike Olson (Sutton, Mass.) and sophomore Connor Wilcox (Colchester, Conn.). Rigoli and Olson each won their events – Rigoli in the weight throw with a toss of 17.28 meters and Olson in the mile run with a time of 4:28.07 – while Wilcox demolished the 5000-meter run record by more than 16 seconds to finish third overall.
 
PSU took home second at the meet, falling only to NCAA Division II Franklin Pierce, while pulling away from Little East Conference (LEC) opponent Keene State.
 
The Basics:

• Panther Invitational I – 2nd of 7 Teams
  • Franklin Pierce (157.5), Plymouth State (127.5), Thomas (102), Keene State (72), St. Joseph's (62), YCCC (42), Suffolk (33)

How it Happened:

• Wilcox smashed the 5000-meters record by 16.12 seconds with a time of 15:41.85, with sophomore Jacob Gallaher (Gambrills, Md.) right on his heels in 15:41.99. The duo placed third and fourth.
• Olson took his second individual win of the season in the mile run with a time of 4:28.07.
• Oglesby added another individual win for the Panthers in the 400-meter dash in 53.68, with freshman Zach Hodge (Springfield, N.H.) behind him in 54.31 to place second.
• Junior Jyaire Hatcher (Uniondale, N.Y.) scored eighth in the 60-meter dash finals after qualifying in the preliminaries with a time of 7.36. He crossed the line in 7.44 in the finals.
• Senior Colin Moar (Annandale, Va.) finished second in the 800-meter run in exactly 2:00.00.
• Hatcher and Oglesby tackled the 200-meter dash, placing fourth and sixth with times of 23.79 and 24.23, respectively.
• Both the 4x200-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay closed out the meet with wins. The 4x200 squad of Shokal, Snyder, Vachon and Oglesby rallied for a narrow win in 1:37.13. Moar teamed up with juniors Ryan Moyer (Dover, N.H.) and Rovanee Nickson (Concord, N.H.) and freshman Josh Rebello (North Dighton, Mass.) to fly past the field to take the 4x400-meter relay in 3:36.59.
• Snyder scored once again in the long jump, leaping 5.83 meters to take fifth overall.
• Senior Owen Billin (Meredith, N.H.) placed fourth in the triple jump after covering 12.44 meters.
• Sophomore Camden Donovan (Andover, N.H.) finished his career with a third-place finish in the high jump after clearing 1.65 meters. Freshman Joel Newman (Natick, Mass.) cleared the same height to take fifth.
• Rigoli dominated in the weight throw with a toss of 17.28 meters to win the event. He added a seventh-place finish in the shot put with a heave of 11.26 meters.

 
Up Next:

• Plymouth State heads to Southern Maine for the Husky Invitational next Saturday (Jan. 28).