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MARIETTA, OH - Seniors
Mike Hardbarger (Parkersburg, WV/Ritchie County) and
Matt Joseph (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland), along with sophomore
Matt Marion (Lima, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) represented RIT at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday, May 21 and Friday, May 22 at Marietta, Ohio. Joseph broke the RIT record in the decathlon for the second time in two weeks, finishing ninth overall with a score of 6,614 points.
Joseph, who was 13th through five events on Thursday, was tremendous on Friday, securing three top-four finishes, including a second-place finish in the 1,500-meters in a time of 4:30.89. He was also third in the 110-meter hurdles and fourth in the javelin. Joseph missed securing All-American status by 35 points and was just 66 points from sixth place.
Joseph broke his own school record, set last weekend at ECAC's by 12 points. Joseph's score of 6,602 points at the ECAC's broke a 29-year old school record. Joseph tallied 3,361 points on Friday, third best among all 16 athletes.
Joseph's best finish on Thursday was seventh in the shot put. He placed 16th in each of the first two events, the 100-meter hurdles and long jump. Joseph had 3,253 total points after day one, nearly 600 behind the leader.
Josh Lovell of Linfield College won the decathlon with 7,080 points.
Hardbarger barely missed qualifying for the final in the 1,500-meters, finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 3:57.04. Hardbarger had the 13th fastest time, as the top-12 runners qualified for the final. Last year, Hardbarger placed fifth in the same race, finishing in a school-record time of 3:49.36 to earn All-American honors.
Marion made his first appearance at the NCAA Championships and placed fifth in his heat of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.38 seconds. The top eight runners advanced to the championship heat. Marion was the 12th fastest finisher.