Final Results -
Women's Heptathlon Final Results -
Men's Decathlon Final Results -
Photo Gallery
by Caleb McGaughran, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA - Messiah College's Track and Field team excelled at their invitational this weekend on their home track. The meet kicked off on Thursday with events in the men's decathalon and women's heptathlon.
Freshmen
Drew Engle and
Alyssa Mills both excelled in their very first pentathlon and heptathlon competitions. Engle finished second for the men on Friday with a total of 5,459 points while Mills placed fifth in the heptathlon with a total of 3,298 points. As he fought to the finish over the course of Thursday and Friday's competitions, Engle obtained life-time personal records in both the javelin throw (38.78 meters/127' 3”) and pole vault (4.35 meters/14' 3.25”). Senior
Rich Pennisi also competed for the men in the pentathlon, finishing fifth with a total of 5123 points.
Coming off of their good performances in the pentathlon and heptathlon, the Falcons launched into their competition on Saturday, beginning with the men's and women's 10,000 meter race. Senior
Zach Hoagland finished first for the men (33:43.12) followed closely by Messiah alumnus
Brian Hager, running for S.W.I.F.T Racing and senior
Craig Hutcheson. Hager and Hutcheson placed third and fourth (34:47.66,35:00.00). Senior
Mary Higgins placed first for the women at 39:42.22. Junior Korrie Elliot raced alongside Higgins, running her first 10,000 meter race in 43:27.25.
Several Messiah men ran in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, alongside alumnus
Jeff Smeiles. Smeiles placed first in the race (10:02.72) as seniors
Andrew Springer and
Caleb Liddick followed him in second and third (10:05.37, 10:09.96). Freshman
Joel Zeigler raced a respectable time in his first steeple chase (11:30.53) helping the Falcons to score as he claimed the eighth place spot out of ten total competitors.
In the men's 110 meter hurdles, freshman
Nicholas White placed second both in the preliminaries and finals of the event (15.73 seconds and 15.45 seconds). Sophomore
Liz Martin was only able to place third in the women's 100 meter hurdle preliminaries (15.50 seconds), but she succeeded in grabbing second in the finals of the event (14.74 seconds).
Freshman
Alex Yoder had one of his best performances in the men's 100 meter dash, as he broke the school record in his preliminary race time of 10.85 seconds. Yoder followed up his race with a second place finish in the finals for the men's 100 meter dash at 10.92 seconds.
The Messiah women also saw success in their sprinting events, senior Katherine Craven placing second in the women's 200 meter dash (26.25 seconds). Junior
Courtney Grammar also had a good race in the 200 meter dash, placing fifth with a life time personal record of 27.31 seconds.
In addition to their success in their track events, the Falcons also soared in many of their field events. Senior
Matt Cross finished first in the men's pole vault (4.30 meters/14' 1.25”) while
Drew Engle placed second in jumps at the same height as Cross.
Messiah's throwers on both the men's and women's side saw many excellent performances in their events as well. Junior Hilary Pelkey placed second in the women's shot put with a throw of 11.34 meters (37' 2.50”). Pelkey also claimed the second place spot in the women's javelin, with a throw of 35.57 meters (116' 8”). Junior
Kira Maier also performed well, placing second in the women's discus (39.00 meters/127' 11”) and third in the women's hammer throw (35.65m/116' 11” ).
For the men, Freshmen
Fred Fulton and
Trevor Stutzman grabbed first and fourth in the shot put event, throwing 15.42 meters (50' 7.25”) and 14.52 meters (47' 7.75”) respectively. Stutzman and Fulton also performed well in the discus throw, placing third and fourth respectively with throws of 42.79 meters (140'5”) and 41.24 meters (135' 4”). Sophomore Blake Mauer placed second in the hammer throw at 44.28 meters (145' 3”) followed by Fulton in third at 42.05 meters (137' 11”). Messiah alumnus
A.J. Smith placed first in the men's javelin as he threw for S.W.I.F.T. Racing. Stutzman placed directly behind Smith in the javelin.
Messiah placed well in the women's 4x400 and 4x800 meter relay races. The 4x400 team, consisting of juniors
Tiffany Mills and
Brenda Flaherty, senior
Brooke Airey and sophomore
Liz Martin, placed first in their event with a time of 4:15.93. The women's 4x800 team consisting of junior
Stephanie Miller, freshman
Rebecca Ports, senior
Abby Reed, and sophomore
Nicole Sunderland, placed second at 10:35.63
The men's relay teams had good races as well, their 4x400 meter team placing second at 3:26.21. The team consisted of freshman
Nicholas White and
Eric Witmer, as well as seniors
Tyler Newhook and
Chris Vasaturo. The men's 4x800 meter relay team, consisting of freshman Jonphillip McGill, sophomore
David Gerlach, junior
Aaron Reynolds, and senior
Scott Woolford, placed third at 8:24.87.
Head Coach
Dale Fogelsanger and the rest of the Messiah track and field team were very excited with the day's results. Expectations of performances at the MAC championship continue to rise with the number of high performances during the course of this weekend's events. The Falcons will next be competing at the Greyhound Invitational at Moravian College next weekend.
