Complete Final Results

by Caleb McGaughran, GoMessiah.com reporter

The Messiah College men's track and field team finished second among 11 teams this weekend at the MAC Championships, their second-straight year as runner-up in the conference. The women's team finished fourth overall, ending a seven-year run as MAC Champions.
 
Aaron Reynolds brought points to the team with first place finish in the men's 800 meter run finals. Reynolds ran an excellent race, finishing at 1:54.23, not far off from his personal best.  Jonphilip McGill also had an outstanding performance in the 800 meter run finals, placing third with a substantial personal record of 1:55.75, which also moved him from the ninth to the seventh spot on Messiah's top ten list.
 
Messiah's Trevor Stutzman and Fred Fulton also brought a significant number of points to the men's team. Stutzman claimed first in the men's shot put with a throw of 15.75m (51' 8.25") as well as second in the discus at 46.63m (153' 0"). Fulton also threw well, placing second in the shot put and third in the hammer.
 
Alex Yoder ran very well for Messiah this weekend, making it into finals for both the 200 and 400 meter dash. In the finals, Yoder placed first in the 400 with a time of 49.04 seconds, and also finished second in the 200 at 22.18 seconds
 
Trevor Praetsch brought big points to the team with a first place finish in the men's 400 meter intermediate hurdles. Praetsch's time of 54.62 seconds was not only a significant personal best, but it also landed him in the fifth spot on Messiah's top ten list.
 
Nicholas White performed well in the men's 110 meter hurdles, making it to finals and finishing at sixth in that event.
 
White and Praetsch also contributed their skill to the men's 4x100 meter relay, which made finals with a season best for the team of 43.74 seconds. The relay team finished fifth overall in finals.
 
In addition, White, Praetsch, Reynolds and Yoder combined their talent to run an outstanding 4x400 meter relay. As they had done at Penn Relays earlier this year, White took the first leg followed by Praetsch and Reynolds with Yoder anchoring. The team closed the gap with their competitors and claimed a gold medal for their event with a time of 3:22.03. 
 
Colin Reisler received a silver medal this weekend for his performance in the men's pole vault.  Reisler seized second place in the event, jumping at his personal best height of 4.5m (4' 9").  Reisler also attempted to vault 15' 3", clearing the height before grazing the bar and causing its fall. Drew Engle also brought points to the team in the pole vault with a fifth place finish.
 
John Ausel also brought points to the men's team, placing sixth in the men's 5,000 meter run with a time of 15:46.93. Ausel had also scored for the men on Thursday with a fifth place finish in the 10,000 meter run.
 
Additionally, Celtson Toote scored for the men's team in the javelin, placing fifth with a new personal record of 49.73m (163' 2").
 
As for the women's team, Liz Martin performed extremely well, pulling in points from four different events. Martin had secured spots for herself on Friday in finals for the 100 and 200 meter dash, the 100 meter hurdles as well as the 400 meter intermediate hurdles. On Saturday, Martin scored in her events, placing first in the 400 hurdles and second in the 100 meter hurdles and the 200 meter dash.
 
Martin also contributed to the women's 4x400 and 4x100 meter relays. The women's 4x100 meter relay, consisting of Tiffany Burrows, Martin, Courtney Grammar, and Laura Castilow, was able to make finals where they finished sixth. The 4x400 meter relay team, which included Burrows, Martin, Emily Senning and Jacquelyn Young, also had a good performance, placing fifth overall at 4:08.72.
 
Senning shined for the women in the a 800 meter run, finishing fifth overall in finals at 2:23.06, dropping 0.41 seconds from her preliminary time.
 
Kira Maier and Hillary Pelkey had a strong showing the women's throwing events, each of them scoring in two events. Maier grabbed second in the discus at 37.3m (122' 4") and fourth in the hammer.  Pelkey placed fourth in the shot put on Friday and third in the javelin with a throw of 36.14m (118' 7").
 
Rachel Robison and Rachel Poletti both performed extremely well in the women's pole vault, both of the bringing points to the women's team. Robison seized third place with a vault of 3.10m (10' 2") while Poletti placed seventh.
 
Messiah's women's distance runners also ran well and brought good points to the team. Jenny Bender (3rd), Jenny Bove (7th), and Brenda Flaherty (8th) collected three of the top eight spots in the 10,000 meter run. Bender also placed sixth in the 5,000 meter run. Tasha Becker also scored for the women, finishing in seventh in the 5,000 meter run.
 
With the MAC Championship under their belts, most of the athletes will be looking towards preparation for another season, with a few still putting training time in to prepare for last chance meets or the NCAA Championship.

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