Senior Dominic Paoletti (Monroe, Mich./Monroe St. Mary) continued his strong season in distance events for the Valparaiso University track and field team on Friday, providing the highlight of the team’s opening day of competition at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships, hosted by the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The senior had the team’s highest individual finish on the day by placing third in the 5000-meter run, earning all-conference honors in the process.

How It Happened

• Paoletti placed third in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:36.66.
• The men’s distance medley relay team of Ignacio Veloz Bonilla (San Juan, P.R./American Military Academy), Lukas Sepulveda (Camano Island, Wash/Stanwood), Joey Black (O’Fallon, Ill./O’Fallon) and Eric Carothers (Fisher, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) placed sixth in their event, clocking a time of 10:21.84.  
• In the weight throw, Eddie Juszczak (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) placed a team-high 10^th, covering a distance of 16.78m (55-0.75).
• Jared Humphrey (Hobart, Ind./Andrean) led Valpo in the long jump with a distance of 5.98m (19-7.5).
• Sepulveda, a sophomore, clocked a 23.48 in the 200m run.
• On the women’s side, the relay team of Joely Overstreet (Genoa, Ill/Genoa-Kingston), Tyler Howard (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland), Maranda Donahue (Delton, Mich./Delton-Kellogg) and Grace Aurand (Highland, Ind./Highland) placed seventh overall in the distance medley with a time of 13:02.67.
• Lauren Mikolajczak (Bloomingdale, Ill./Montini Catholic) had the highest individual finish in the weight throw with a distance of 16.51m (54-2). Teammates Hayley Krulik (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) and Michelle Pierce (Indianapolis, Ind./Heritage Christian) finished 14^th and 16^th respectively in that event.   

Up Next 

Valpo will return to action on Saturday as both the men’s and women’s teams compete in the second day of the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Coverage will once again be available on ESPN3 with links to live video and results posted on ValpoAthletics.com.