Meet results
CHESTER, Pa. --- The Elizabethtown College women's track and field team finished second at the three-day Middle Atlantic Conference championships, held at Widener University's Leslie C. Quick, Jr. Stadium.
Elizabethtown finished with 179 points, trailing only Messiah College (193 points) in the final standings and placing ahead of Misericordia University (126.5 points) and Lebanon Valley College (101 points).
On Saturday,
Taryn Shank won her second race of the meet as she captured the 5,000 meters in 18:22.07, after winning the 10,000 meters in 39:49.30 on Thursday night.
Megan VanDenHengel was second in the 5000 (18:27.76) and
Kristen O'Brien took seventh in 19:24.74.
Kathryn Howser also claimed a victory Saturday, winning the 800 meters in 2:20.23, while
Pam Jaraczewski was second in both the 100 meters (12.81) and 200 meters (26.15).
Jenna Niedermayer finished third in the 100 meters (13.13) and was second in the long jump (16 feet, 10 inches), and in the 100 hurdles
Allie Gold placed third (15.72) and
Katy Fogel was fifth (16.44).
Fogel added a seventh-place finish in the 400 hurdles (1:08.87), followed by
Nicole Lipari in seventh (1:13.01) and
Kelly Van Clief in eighth (1:14.35). VanDenHengel contributed a fifth-place finish in the 1500 (4:52.33) with
Sarah Merusi crossing the line seventh in 5:04.33, and in the 400 meters
Ashley Lockwood was eighth in 1:03.00.
In relays, the 4x100-meter team of Lockwood, Jaraczewski, Gold and Niedermayer finished third in 49.75 seconds, and the 4x400 quartet of Fogel, Lockwood,
Jill Patrick and Howser took sixth in 4:12.11.
Kathryn Ritter competed in the javelin Saturday and finished in seventh place with a throw of 107 feet.
On Friday, VanDenHengel won the steeplechase and set a new MAC record with a time of 11:22.16, breaking the old mark of 11:39.55 set in 2007. Gold finished second in the heptathlon and set a new school record with 3,742 points.
In the field, Niedermayer was third in the triple jump at 35 feet, 8 1/2 inches and seventh in the high jump at 4 feet, 10 1/4 inches.
Crystal Connelly took fifth in the shot put (33 feet, 10 inches) and
Sarah DeGeorge placed seventh in the discus (104 feet, 3 inches).
On Thursday, Elizabethtown swept the top four places and five of the top six in the 10,000 meters, led by Shank's win by over two minutes. O'Brien placed second (41:53.52) followed by
Teresa Beshore in third (42:09.12) and
Sarah Steinmetz in fourth (42:14.45).
Katie Nordyke turned in a sixth-place finish with a time of 44:32.21.
The Blue Jays won the inaugural 4x800-meter relay, as the team of Merusi,
Janna Richards,
Bernadette Frawley and Howser crossed the line in 9:49.17 to break the school record of 9:51.44 set in 2009.
In the hammer throw, Connelly finished second and set a school record with a mark of 137 feet, 3 inches, breaking the record of 124 feet set by Dawn Mellen at the 2007 MAC Championships. DeGeorge finished eighth with a mark of 116 feet, 1 inch to climb into third place on the program's all-time performance list.
Coach Straub's Summary:
Both the men's and women's teams were 3rd out of 11 teams at the indoor championships in February so that's the most valid measure of our current level of competitiveness. There have been great improvements by several athletes since that time and it's been a very successful outdoor campaign. Both teams were hoping to challenge for the win over the 3-day outdoor championships. We felt that was a realistic goal--especially for the men. And both teams were in the mix and gave themselves a chance. We knew it would take a perfect meet on our part to come away with a team title or two. The men had a good, solid meet. The women had an absolutely amazing meet.
Our hats off to the Widener men and Coach Touey. Their sprinters came through for them in a big way to lead them to victory. For example, they were seeded to get 2 points in the 100m and they racked up 19 points. It's really difficult to make up that kind of deficit. The DeSales men really had a nice meet as well to finish Runner-up. We had a nice run of winning the MAC outdoor T&F title the past three years in a row. We're young, improving, and bring in one of our better recruiting classes for 2011. We look forward to challenging for the win in 2011 and putting our blood, sweat, and tears back into it for another shot at the title a year from now. I know our current group of seniors really wanted to win all four outdoor titles over their tenure, but it just wasn't in the cards. They have a lot to be proud of regardless of this particular outcome.
The women's team, led by Coach Hoffsmith, had an absolutely AMAZING meet! The closest our women have ever been (program's inception was 2000) to winning their first outdoor title was in 2006. That year we won the indoor title and were 23-1/2 points out of first at the outdoor championships. We totalled 156 points in 2006 which was our largest tally until this year. Last year, in 2009, we fought hard for second place and achieved that goal. But we were a very distant second place finishing 78 points behind Messiah. This year, we gave Messiah a real fight which I'm not sure anyone truly expected. To finish within 14 points of the win and rack up 179 points was remarkable! The women were extremely poised, confident, and tenacious over the three days of competition. Our women can look back at the 2010 championships and be really proud of their efforts. To come so close to victory, but remain the Runner-up, is something that should tremendously motivate this group over the next year.
Both teams competed really well and can look back on 2010 with a great deal of satisfaction. Next up for the Blue Jays, top individuals will go on to compete at the Gator Invitational at Allegheny College on Friday, May 14 and then the Lion's Last Chance Qualifier at The College of New Jersey on Thursday, May 20.
Then all NCAA Provisional Qualifiers await the selection committee's decision on Sunday, May 23 to see if they make the cut for the 2010 NCAA Division III Outdoor T&F Championships at Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio on May 27-29.
At present, the following Blue Jays have met the NCAA provisional mark(s). As of 5/8/10 according to
www.raceberryjam.com:
Megan VanDenHengel (Sr.)
3000m Steeplechase in 11:12.2h @ Bucknell on 4/9/10 is Ranked 26th in Division III.
10,000m in 36:29.48 @ Penn Relays on 4/22/10 is Ranked 23rd in Division III.
Taryn Shank (Fr.)
10,000m in 37:22.71 @ Washington & Lee on 3/26/10 is Ranked 35th in Division III.
Mike Torre (Sr.)
Javelin of 194'1" @ Millersville on 4/3/10 is Ranked 26th in Division III.