Men's Final Results |
Women's Final Results |
Messiah Invitational Homepage (Results also posted here)
by Caleb McGaughran, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA - This weekend was an exciting one for the Falcons, as Messiah hosted it's the 35th annual Messiah College Track & Field Invitational. The men finished first ahead of Hagerstown College with a total of 179 points, while the women also claimed a first place title, scoring ahead of Elizabethtown College with 171 points.
Hilary Pelkey, who finished
third in the women's heptathlon events on the first two days of the invitational, broke Messiah's school record in the women's shot put. Pelkey threw 12.47 meters (40' 11”) which brought her to a first place finish in the event. In addition, Pelkey claimed third in the women's javelin throwing 33.51 meters (109' 11”)
Kira Maier also performed well for the Messiah women in the throwing events, grabbing first in both the women's hammer and discus throws. Maier threw 37.24 meters (122' 2”) in the discus and 40.19 meters (131' 10”) in the hammer.
Alyssa Mills, who placed fourth in the heptathlon, also performed well in the discus, placing third with a throw of 33.51 meters (109' 11”).
Both
Fred Fulton and
Trevor Stutzman performed extremely well on the men's side, with Fulton claiming first in the shot put and second place in the discus, throwing 16.82 meters (55' 2.25”) and 46.56 meters (152' 9”) respectively. Fulton also placed third in the hammer throw at 49.34 meters (161' 10”). Stutzman placed first in the men's discus (47.99 meters, 157' 5”) and third in the shot put (15.16 meters, 49' 9”).
Their tremendous showings followed suit to
Drew Engle's first place in the Decathlon on Friday.
Among the other highlights of the day were several outstanding performances among the men's distance events.
John Ausel raced very well in the men's 10,000 meter race with a time of 33:36.53. Tyler Sensing and
Nathan Fleming both had outstanding performances in the men's 5,000 meter race, Sensing claiming first with a substantial personal record of 15:47.12. Fleming also had a tremendous personal record, running an MAC qualifying time of 16:10.79.
In the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase,
Jared Schatz and
Joel Zeigler both enjoyed good races. Schatz, who faced his first steeplechase this weekend, placed first in the event with a time of 10:14.78, good enough to qualify him for MAC's. Zeigler set a third personal record for himself this season, finishing in sixth with a time of 10:54.88.
In addition, a number of Messiah men performed very well in the 1500 meter race.
Aaron Reynolds placed first overall in the event, finishing at 4:09.85, while
Cameron Shirk claimed third in the event at 4:13.12.
Edward Bley and
Phil Headland also had good races, Headland placing second in his heat at 4:18.34 while Bley won his heat with a personal best of 4:31.41.
On the women's side
Jenny Bender claimed third in the women's 5,000 meter race, finishing at 19:01.89 while
Tasha Becker placed seventh at 19:37.13.
Leah Novak enjoyed a very good race in her first 3,000 meter steeplechase, placing third in the event with a time of 12:56.24. Vicki Hepp placed not far behind Novak in fifth, finishing at 13:06.20. In addition, in the women's mid-distance events,
Emily Senning claimed first in the women's 800 meter run, finishing at 2:22.00.
In other news, several Messiah men and women had excellent performances among the shorter events of the day.
Liz Martin claimed first in the women's 400 meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 64.69 seconds. In the women's 100 meter dash,
Courtney Grammar placed fourth in finals with a time of 13.30 seconds.
On the men's side,
Trevor Praetsch claimed first in the men's 400 meter hurdles, while
Alex Yoder placed first in the men's open 400 meter dash at 49.59 seconds.
In the men's 110 meter hurdles,
Quentin Hampton had a collegiate personal record of 18.03 seconds, which landed him a place in finals for the event.
Joel Ngui also had two good races this weekend, setting new personal bests in the 100 and 200 meter dashes (12.07 and 25.75 seconds respectively)
The Messiah teams also had several good performances among the relay events. The women's 4x100 meter dash relay team, which included
Tiffany Burrows,
Courtney Grammar,
Rachel Poletti, and
Rachel Robison, placed first in the event at 52.5 seconds. The women's 4x800 meter relay team also raced very well,
Leah Novak,
Victoria Scrima, Vicki Hepp and Jacqui Young bringing the team to a first place finish at 10:41.32.
On the men's side, the 4x400 meter relay team placed first in their event with a time of 3:24.24. The team was composed of a strong assortment of Messiah men, including
Nicholas White,
Aaron Reynolds,
Trevor Praetsch and
Alex Yoder. The men's 4x800 meter relay team, which included
Jared Schatz,
Cameron Shirk,
Edward Bley, and
Jonphilip McGill also performed well, claiming first with a time of 8:43.16.
This weekend's invitational was exciting for the Falcons, as many new athletes set personal bests or qualified for MAC's as has usually occurred at each of their meets this season. What really topped this weekend for the team though, was the large number of alumni who came to watch current athletes, or compete for S.W.I.F.T racing, Messiah's alumni racing team. Several athletes' parents were also able to come out to meet, which also made the weekend meaningful for the Messiah athletes. As Coach
Dale Fogelsanger has been well-known to say to the team, “It's more than times and numbers” and this weekend was a prime example just that. The Falcons will return to action this upcoming weekend at the Larry Ellis Invitational and Greyhound Invitational.
TRACK: Messiah Invitational Gallery
