Results
by Caleb McGaughran, GoMessiah.com reporter
Lewisburg, PA - The Falcons had several strong performances this weekend, as the team competed both at Bucknell University in the Bison Open, as well as the Penn State National Invitational. Despite very high competition at both meets, the men's and women's team had several significant performances.
At Penn State, Sophomore
Fred Fulton performed very well against strong competitors. He placed fourth overall in the meet, throwing 16.41m (53' 10.25”). Sophomore
Trevor Stutzman also competed alongside Fulton at the Penn State National Invitational.
At Bucknell, the Falcons soared, beginning with a number of good races in the men's 5,000 meter race on Friday night. Freshman
John Ausel ran both an indoor, and outdoor qualifying MAC time of 16:01.79, placing sixteenth out of 28 competitors. Freshmen
Jared Schatz and Tyler Sensing also ran qualifying times for the indoor MAC championship (16:20.02 16:21.94).
Also competing on Friday night, and continuing into Saturday's competition, were sophomore
Drew Engle and freshman Aaron Powel in the men's heptathlon. Engle placed fourth overall in the heptathlon, while Powel placed tenth. Whereas Engle had competed in this event last year, with significant improvement over the course of the season, this weekend's heptathlon was Powel's first. Powel said that it “really wasn't all that bad” and has a positive outlook for the rest of the season.
In other news, sophomore
Alex Yoder had several good performances throughout Saturday's competition. Yoder secured a place for himself in the finals of the men's 60 meter dash, finishing second in his heat at 7.28 seconds. He finished tenth out of sixteen competitors in finals at 7.25 seconds.
Yoder also raced well in the men's 200 meter dash, finishing sixth at 22.95. He also competed in his first indoor 400 meter dash, placing ninth place out of 35 competitors at 51.61.
Junior
Liz Martin also had a number of excellent performances on Saturday. Martin made it to finals for both the women's 60 meter dash as well as the 400 meter dash. She placed seventh in the finals for the 60 meter dash at 8.12 seconds out of sixteen competitors. In the 400, Martin grabbed twelfth at 1:02.87 out of 37 competitors.
Among the other highlights of the weekend were the men's and women's 800 meter run. Sophomore
Leah Novak had an excellent race, placing fourth in the first heat with a qualifying time of 2:36.21. Three other Messiah women ran in the second heat together, freshman
Trinity Dodson placing third at 2:34.65 followed by junior
Nicole Sunderland in fourth at 2:35.02.
On the men's side, freshman
Phil Headland ran an excellent 800, finishing fifth in his heat with an indoor personal record of 2:01.43. Headland placed the highest out of the rest of the Messiah men, at tenth out of 28 competitors. In other news for the men, junior
Abram Albert also ran an indoor personal record of 2:09.57, just shy of qualifying time.
This weekend was very exciting for the Falcons, as they showed their strength against high competition. The team still has a few more meets to go until the indoor MAC championships but their confidence continues to grow as many team members improve at each meet. The Falcons will return to action as a whole team at Susquehanna Invitational while a few team members compete over January-term break at Widener Multi/Field Meet.
