SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Messiah women's track and field competed at the Susquehanna Invitational at the Garrett Sports Complex Field House on Saturday. The Falcons had strong performances across the board, highlighted by
Ali Schutte running in an impressive 5000m with a time of 19:59.33 and a 4x800m relay team
Isabela Rodriguez,
Laura Kruth,
Kate Dickow, and
Esther Seeland placing second overall with a mark of 10:19.29.
60m
Ellie Longshaw paced the Falcons in the 60m dash, earning a fifth-place finish in the preliminary stage with a time of 8.10s. Longshaw's mark qualified her for the finals as
Halle Jennett (8.59s) and
Noelle Crowley (9.30s) also competed in the preliminary round.
In the finals, Longshaw registered a mark of 8.14s. Longshaw's time gave her an eight-place finish as Saint Francis' Mylan Crews paced the field with a time of 7.67s.
60m Hurdles
Claire Miller led the way for the Falcons in the 60m hurdles, recording a time of 10.07s in the preliminary stage. Miller placed second overall in the fourth heat as
Natalie Hamlen (11.15s),
Autumn Braley (11.92s),
Maria Sudlow (12.23s), and
Ruby Ramsey (12.34s) turned in quality performances for Messiah.
200m
Messiah had two runners record times in the 200m event.
Elena Vargas issued a strong performance, earning a time of 28.65s.
Cassidy Chandler also competed in the event, placing first overall in the tenth heat with a mark of 29.26s.
400m
Julia Rickard,
Natalie Hamlen,
Emma Graybill, and Cassisy Chandler ran in the 400m. Graybill paced the Falcons, claiming 11th overall out of 57 runners with a mark of 1:04.27. Chandler followed Graybill, recording a time of 1:04.78. Hamlen (1:06.35) and Rickard (1:08.27) also registered strong performances for Messiah.
800m
The Falcons had five runners compete in the 800m event. All five runners turned in impressive performances, led by both
Brieanna Hess (2:32.96) and
Olivia Cory (2:33.42), who placed 14th and 15th overall, respectively.
Emma Johnsen turned in a time of 2:37.22 as
Isabela Rodriguez (2:37.90) and
Regina Pirolli (2:38.42) each issued strong performances as well. All five runners placed in the top 30 in a strong field of 55 total competitors.
1-Mile
Sarah Smith,
Amber Fogelsanger, Lindsay Bernd,
Kathleen Walstrom and
Hannah Steckbeck all ran in the 1-mile. Smith led the way for Messiah, placing 21st out of 45 total runners with a mark of 5:46.34. Following Smith for the Falcons were Fogelsanger (5:47.47), Bernd (5:56.67), Walstrom (5:58.98), and Steckbeck (5:59.60). Both Fogelsanger (5:51.05) and Steckbeck (5:56.13) made improvements from their 1-mile times from last week.
3000m
Chloe Wester recorded a strong finish in the 3000m, turning in a time of 10:56.78. Wester, with her impressive mark, finished 6th overall out of a field of 33 runners.
Kirsten Howland (11:46.58),
Sarah Bath (11:51.82),
Amber Swaisgood (11:58.83),
Elise Davenport (12:29.69).
5000m
Ali Schutte issued a strong performance in the 5000m, placing sixth overall with a time of 19:59.33. Schutte's sixth-place finish came out of a strong field of 21 runners as
Jillian Brotherton competed in the event as well, earning a mark of 22:18.54.
4x200m Relay
A relay team of Longshaw, Jennett, Miller, and Vargas recorded a strong finish in the 4x200m relay, placing a second-place finish out of eight teams. The relay team crossed the line in just 1:51.07, falling just shy of Dickinson College's winning mark of 1:49.72.
4x800m Relay
Messiah fielded two teams in the 4x800m relay. Team A, consisting of
Isabela Rodriguez,
Laura Kruth,
Kate Dickow, and
Esther Seeland recorded a second-place finish with a time of 10:19.29. Team B, crossing the line in 11:26.69, consisted of
Claire Kriner,
Meghan Sampson,
Leigha Southall,
Julia Rickard.
Team A splits: Rodriguez (2:41.95), Kruth (2:44.31), Dickow (2:34.47),
Seeland (2:22.45)
Team B splits: Kriner (2:47.98), Sampson (2:45.89), Southall (2:54.29),
Rickard (2:58.54)
Both Seeland and Dickow competed in the relay event after turning in impressive performances at the David Hemery Valentine Invite at Boston University on Friday afternoon.
Long Jump
Elena Vargas represented Messiah in the long jump, leaping to a mark of 4.34m. Misericordia's Sarah Wagner earned the top mark of the day, topping all competition with a distance of 5.58m.
Pole Vault
Both
Cadee Wood and
Olivia Call competed in the pole vault. The two Falcons recorded identical performances, vaulting to final heights of 2.45m
