Josh Thorne doesn’t remember much about the last 50 meters.
But he remembers the lean at the line as he ended his 1,500-meter race at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships.
“It never comes down to that or it’s very rare that it ever does,” Thorne said of distance races. “I leaned and almost fell to the track at the end of the race.”
He didn’t fall, and his lean earned him eighth place by one-hundredth of a second. Thorne’s time was 4 minutes, 6.64 seconds.
His finish allowed him to contribute a point to the Mount Union men’s track and field team winning the OAC Championship on April 29.
“My goal, bottom line, I wanted to score,” said Thorne, a sophomore. “Even though I only scored one point, it was one of the 272, and I wanted to be part of the team and contribute.”
Thorne and his teammate Jason Hadley both identify as gay, and they have been out publicly since May 2016.
They helped Mount Union, a Division III school in Alliance, Ohio, set an OAC record for most points scored in the conference championship meet. Mount Union’s 272 points beat runner-up Ohio Northern by 147.5 points, and it gave the Mount Union men’s team an eighth consecutive outdoor conference title.
Hadley, a sophomore, contributed to the team score by running the second leg of the 3,200-meter relay that finished fourth in 7:53.83. His split was 1:59.
“We performed very well,” Hadley said of the relay, which ran April 28.
Thorne said he may run again this season, but Hadley said the conference meet was his final race of the season.
“It’s nice to be part of a team where you have great relationships with your teammates and can have success together,” Hadley said.
Josh Thorne can be reached via email at [email protected] on Twitter @JoshAThorne Instagram @JoshAThorne and Snapchat @JoshuaAndrew2
Jason Hadley can be found on Twitter @JHadley_2015 or Instagram @Jason_703
Names in bold are people that have announced publicly they identify as LGBT.
Division I
Philip Batler (freshman, Brown men’s track & field) helped the Bears’ 4×100 relay take fourth at Sunday’s Ivy League Championship to go with Saturday races where he finished 11th in the 200 meters (21.87 seconds) and 17th in the 100 meters (10.87 seconds). The Brown team finished eighth. On April 30, Batler took seventh in the 200 meters (22.23 seconds) at a home meet.
Chase Boyle (senior, Mount St. Mary’s men’s track & field) won a second consecutive conference title in the hammer throw at the Northeastern Conference Championships on Sunday with a throw of 175 feet, 7 inches. He also took eighth in shot put (43-5 1/4) and 10th in the discus (120-11) to help the Mount St. Mary team take third. On April 29, he took 10th in the hammer (180 feet, 2 inches) at the Penn Relays.
Tim Cox (senior, Yale men’s track & field) helped the Bulldogs’ 3,200-meter relay take second (7:28.02) on Sunday at the Ivy League Championships to go with finishing 21st in the 800 meters (1:57.11) as Yale’s team took sixth.
Konrad Eiring (sophomore, Illinois men’s track & field) anchored Illinois’ 1,600-meter sprint medley relay to second place (3:22.75) and ran on the fifth-place 4×800 relay (7:26.76) on April 28-29 at the Drake Relays.
Emmonnie Henderson (senior, Louisville women’s track & field) won the shot put (56-11) and took 15th in discus (139-10 1/2) at a home meet April 29.
Bree Horrocks (junior, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) announced she will transfer from Purdue to Vanderbilt. Horrocks is scheduled to complete her degree this semester, so she will be available to play this fall.
Alexis Lewandowski (sophomore, IUPUI women’s track & field) took 25th in the 1,500 meters (4:48.87) at Louisville’s Wood Invitational on April 29, and Kelsey Tyler (junior, IUPUI women’s track & field) finished fourth at Louisville in the 5,000 meters (18:55.61).
Justice Lord (sophomore, Barton men’s volleyball), Michael Tyler (sophomore, Barton men’s volleyball), and Juan Varona (redshirt senior, Barton men’s volleyball) concluded the season May 2 with a three-set loss to No. 4-ranked BYU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Lord had two kills and two blocks for the Bulldogs (23-6 overall). Lord finished the season fourth on the team with 123 kills, and Tyler was seventh with 25. Varona was sixth on the team with 53 digs, and Lord was seventh with 42 digs.
Cavender Salvadori (redshirt junior, William & Mary men’s track & field) won his first conference title by capturing Saturday’s 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:30.97) at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, where he also took sixth in the 10,000 meters (32:23.3) on Friday. William & Mary finished second as a team.
Jaron Thomas (senior, Colorado men’s track & field) finished second in the 110-meter hurdles (13.69 seconds) at Friday’s Air Force Twilight.
Taylor Tvedt (senior, Lehigh women’s lacrosse) made a career high 16 saves in the final match of her career, a 9-8 loss to Navy in Friday’s semifinal of the Patriot League tournament. Tvedt made 160 saves this season and started all 18 games for Lehigh (12-6 overall). On May 1, Tvedt was named Patriot League Defender of the Week for the second time this season after her 11 saves against Bucknell in the final game of the regular season.
Jenny Allard (head coach, Harvard softball) saw the Crimson (22-19 overall) lose twice to Princeton on Saturday in the Ivy League Championship Series. Harvard reached the series by sweeping a two-game series with Dartmouth on April 30.
Colin Christiansen (assistant coach, Maryland-Baltimore County softball) watched the Retrievers (22-28 overall) go 3-4 the last two weeks. UMBC is on a three-game winning streak and the No. 5 seed in the America East tournament, which opens May 10.
Nich Lee Parker (head coach, Columbia men’s lightweight rowing) saw his top two varsity eight boats beat Drexel in a head-to-head matchup April 29 to end the regular season.
Simon Thibodeau (head coach, UC Santa Barbara women’s tennis) guided his team to a second consecutive Big West Championship, which they captured by beating No. 1-seeded Hawaii 4-1 on April 30. The No. 2-seeded Gauchos (17-9 overall) also beat Long Beach State and Cal Poly in the Big West tournament. “I am so proud of my team,” Thibodeau said in a press release. UCSB, which is on a 10-match winning streak, faces No. 23-ranked UCLA on May 12 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. On May 4, five members of the Gauchos were named to the all-Big West first or second team.
Kirk Walker (assistant coach, UCLA softball) saw the No. 12-ranked Bruins (39-13 overall) go 6-1 the last two weeks. UCLA sits fourth in the Pac-12 Conference standings. The Bruins conclude the regular season May 13 at Arizona State.
Division II
Kylon Drones (junior, West Texas A&M men’s track & field) took second in the 110-meter hurdles (14.37 seconds), fourth in the decathlon (6,390 points), and sixth in the 400 hurdles (55.02 seconds) at the Lone Star Conference Championships from Thursday to Saturday. His 110-hurdle time and decathlon score were both personal records. West Texas A&M’s men’s team finished third in the seven-team conference.
Carly Muscaro (senior, Merrimack women’s track & field) won the 200 meters (23.86 seconds) and the 400 meters (52.67 seconds) while contributing to the winning 1,600-meter relay at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships on Saturday and Sunday. She also helped the 400-meter relay finish second as Merrimack took fifth as a team.
Austin Shupp (redshirt sophomore, Shippensburg men’s track & field) received the men’s Most Valuable Athlete award Saturday at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships, which the Shippensburg men’s team won. He took second in the 110-meter hurdles (14.62 seconds), second in long jump (23-3 1/2), fourth in the 400 hurdles (53.21 seconds), and helped the 400-meter relay take second. On April 29 at a home meet, he won the 110 hurdles (14.71 seconds), took second in the 400 hurdles (52.81 seconds), helped the 4×100 relay finish second (41.07 seconds), contributed to the 4×400 taking second (3:16.93), and finished fourth in long jump (21-3 1/4). His 110-hurdle prelim time of 14.47 seconds and his 400-hurdle time April 29 were personal records.
Lauren Lappin (assistant coach, Missouri-St. Louis softball) helped guide the Tritons (39-13 overall) to the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament championship Saturday by beating Truman State 5-0 in the title game. UMSL earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with the win.
Tony Nicolosi (head coach, Cal State East Bay men’s & women’s track & field) led the men’s team to seventh place and the women’s team to 10th place at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships from Thursday to Saturday.
Division III
Ryan Beene (senior, Texas Lutheran men’s tennis) retired from his No. 3 singles match and lost at No. 2 doubles April 28 in the opening round of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tennis championships.
Michael Drougas (junior, Oberlin men’s tennis) helped his team take third place April 30 in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament. Drougas went 2-1 in doubles and 1-1 in singles during the tournament. Oberlin’s 16-10 record this season is the program’s best ever, according to the school.
Zach Greenawalt (freshman, Juniata men’s track & field) cleared 12-5 1/2 to take sixth in pole vault Saturday at the Landmark Championships, where Juniata took third in the six-team conference.
Dominick Gutierrez (sophomore, Lynchburg men’s tennis) lost his No. 2 singles match and No. 2 doubles match May 2 against Bridgewater in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals.
Paul Messana (senior, Pomona-Pitzer men’s track & field), Cal Neikirk (sophomore, Pomona-Pitzer men’s track & field), Nick Vucovich (junior, Pomona-Pitzer men’s track & field), and Lucas White Moon (freshman, Pomona-Pitzer men’s track & field) helped the Sagehens take fourth at the SCIAC Championships on April 28-29. Messana, Neikirk, and Vucovich ran together on the fourth-place 4×400 relay. Messana also took second in the 800 meters (1:51.53) with Vucovich fourth in the 800 (1:54.06). Neikirk finished second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.75 seconds), helped the 4×100 relay get sixth while fouling on all three triple jumps and no heighting on high jump. White Moon took fourth in triple jump (45-1 3/4), 11th in long jump (20-10 3/4), and 16th in the 400 meters (51.18 seconds). On May 4, Messana and Neikirk were named to the all-SCIAC second team.
NAIA
David Gilbert (senior, Lewis-Clark men’s track & field) finished 20th in the 1,500 meters (4:14.78) at the Cougar Invite on April 29. He ran the 800 meters in 2:07.36 to take 33rd at Saturday’s Linfield Open.
Jack Strickland (senior, Friends men’s track & field) won the 110-meter hurdle title at the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference meet Saturday in 15.08 seconds. Strickland also finished third in the 400 hurdles (55.55 seconds) and 17th in long jump (20-1 1/2). The Friends men’s team took fifth in the 12-team conference.
Erik Hall can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @HallErik or on Facebook. If you are an out LGBT athlete or coach and want your accomplishments recognized, please email Erik.
