READING, Pa. - Messiah's Women's 4x200 Meter Relay team won gold on Day One of the MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships to highlight the start of the two-day Championships hosted by the Alvernia Golden Wolves in Reading, Pa. The team of
Kathryn Wiederrecht,
Ellie Longshaw,
Julia Geisheimer, and
Ellissa Slader hustled around the track in a time of 1:46.81 to top the podium.
As a team, Messiah has 28 points to their name, placing them third after the opening day of the Championships. The Misericordia Cougars sit in first with 51 team points and the Eastern Eagles are second with 44 points.
The Championships conclude on Saturday with the bulk of the final events taking place. The action gets started at 11:00 a.m. at the PLEX on the campus of Alvernia University.
In the Results
As mentioned, Messiah's 4x200 Meter Relay team led the way for the Falcons on Friday, winning the event in a time of 1:46.81, just two tenths of a second ahead of the Eastern Eagles' second-place time of 1:47.02.
The Falcons and Eagles swapped positions at the top of the podium in the Distance Medley Relay with Eastern winning the event in a time of 12:21.57, over six seconds ahead of the Falcons. Messiah's team of
Maddison Landis,
Rebecca Crosley,
Laura Kruth, and
Esther Seeland finished in exactly 12:28.00 to earn a silver medal.
The opening night of the MAC Championships featured a number of prelims with
Kathryn Wiederrecht qualifying for the finals in both the 60 Meter and the 60 Meter Hurdles. Wiederrecht is the second seed in both heading to the finals, trailing top-seeded Laura Mathews from Stevens in both events. Wiederrecht turned in a time of 8.01 in the 60 Meter and a mark of 9.30 in the 60 Meter Hurdles.
Taylor Wiederrecht also qualified for the finals of the 60 Meter Hurdles with a time of 9.32. She is the third seed heading into the finals.
Sarah Codd earned two points for the Falcons in the 5,000 Meter with a time of 18:47.12 to take seventh place in the event. Messiah had four other Falcons compete in the event with
Cera Gaston (18:59.87 - 11th),
Joy Galbraith (19:20.27 - 14th),
Teddi Powell (19:39.91 - 17th), and Katelyn Prothero (20:27.84 - 21st) running in the event.
In the field,
Taylor Wiederrecht finished second in the long jump with a mark of 5.37 meters, finishing behind Eastern's Nicole Weenink who tied the MAC Indoor Championship record with a jump of 5.80 meters. Wiederrecht's jump earned Messiah eight team points.
Also in the field,
America Cervantes and
Bayley Hess finished in 12th and 13th place, respectively, after both clearing 2.70 meters in the Pole Vault. Messiah was well-represented in the weight thrown with four Falcons competing.
Amanda Brown led the charge with a mark of 11.37 meters to take 19th place.
Erin Haines (9.89 meters - 27th),
Katie Tull (9.16 meters - 32nd), and
Justine Eckert (7.98 meters - 34th) also competed for the Falcons in the event.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back at it tomorrow morning when Day Two of the MAC Indoor Championships get started at 11:00 a.m.
