Results
By Caleb McGaughran, GoMessiah.com reporter
Selinsgrove, PA - Today's competition was exciting for the Falcons as several athletes soared to new levels at the Susquehanna Invitational and the Bucknell Winter Classic.
“We had several new qualifiers for MAC's,” head coach
Dale Fogelsanger said. “It was very encouraging for the team. Several athletes won their heats or their races and it really built confidence for us.”
Sophomore
Fred Fulton had an outstanding performance in the men's weight throw. Fulton placed first in the event with a personal best of 16.56m (54' 5”). Fulton also did well in the shot put event, placing second at 15.92m (52' 2.75”).
Freshman
Michael Boyles also set a new personal record in both of the day's throwing events. His weight throw of 11.20m (36' 9”) as well as his shot put throw of 12.03m (39' 5.75”) both were within MAC qualifying range.
At the Bucknell Winter Classic, both sophomore
Drew Engle and senior
Colin Reisler competed in the men's pole vault. Engle did extremely well, placing second and achieving his personal record of 4.5m (14' 9”) which he set in December.
Messiah's distance runners also performed extremely well Saturday. In the women's 5,000 meter run, junior Jennifer Bender placed first overall in the event, setting a new personal record of 18:21.65. Senior
Brenda Flaherty placed fifth, followed by freshman
Tasha Becker in sixth place. Becker ran a life-time personal record of 19:41.32 in the 5,000 meter run, which also qualified her for the MAC Championship. Junior Jennifer Bove ran an indoor personal best of 20:35.46, also an MAC qualifying time.
The men's distance group also had several good performances, although no new athletes qualified for MAC's in the 5,000 meter run. Freshman
Alex Faus was just shy of a the qualifying time at 16:42.60, but his time was a new personal record. Sophomore
Joel Zeigler also had a good race, dropping nine seconds from his previous personal record, finishing at 17:28.58.
A number of Messiah athletes also competed in the men's open 400 meter dash. Sophomore
Alex Yoder performed extremely well, grabbing second place with a new indoor personal best of 50.72 seconds. Freshman
Phil Headland also had an excellent race, finishing fourth at 52.84 seconds.
“Phil had a good racing strategy,” Fogelsanger said. “He was a good example to the team of smart, strategic racing today.”
The Falcons will be returning to Susquehanna University next weekend for their final meet of the Indoor Track and Field Season before the MAC Championship. As the team begins this “final lap” of their season, their confidence, and readiness continues to rise as they look ahead to the conference championship.
