JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (January 27, 2007) - The ETSU track & field squad continued the momentum from a solid opening day of competition at the Niswonger Invitational, and ended the meet with one title and another school record.

            Senior James Rainer (Alcoa, Tenn.) was competing unattached and finished first overall in the 60-meter dash invitation, running 6.72 to edge Rondrick Parker by five-hundredths of a second.

            Freshman Jarrod Burton (Bastian, Va.) broke a nine year-old school record in the shot put. His heave of 52-08.75 (16.07m) broke Curtis Eason's record of 50-06 set in 1998. His toss was good for a second place finish overall.

Junior Dave Thomas (Maryville, Tenn.) tied a 38 year-old school record in the pole vault.  His vault of 14-6 (4.42m) tied Richard Harris' mark set all the way back in 1968.

            Other ETSU competitors also fared well in Saturday's action. On the men's side, sophomore Michael Deren (Blasdell, N.Y.) finished tenth overall in the 5000 meters finishing in with a time of 15:19.81. In the one mile run sophomore Joshua Rock (Spotsylvania, Va.) finished second in his heat with a time of 2:03.38. Local native Eric Snapp (Bristol, Va.) broke his previous season record of 19-04.75 (5.91m) in the long jump, with a leap of 19-06.75 (5.96m) for a tenth place finish. In the high jump, Mike Wright (Chattanooga, Tenn.) placed fifth overall with a leap of 6-04 (1.93m), and in the 60-meter hurdles he finished 4th overall with a time of 8.31.

            On the women's side, freshman Valerie Boothby (Glen Gardner, N.J.) finished fifth overall in the one mile run invitational with a time of 5:21.27.

            For full results from today's action as well as yesterday's, click the link provided at the top of the page.

            The ETSU team returns to action next weekend when they compete in the Carolina Invitational on February 3 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The meet begins at 9 a.m.