LANCASTER, Pa. - The Messiah Women's Track and Field team began their indoor track and field season today at the Franklin & Marshall Diplomat Open, their first and only meet of the Fall semester. The Falcons collected a number of excellent times and distances, with three event wins, one new mark on the Messiah Indoor Top Ten list, and 13 qualifications for the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor T&F Championships, setting up the Falcons very well for the rest of the season to begin in January.
Up next, the Falcons will continue their training over winter break in preparation for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season. Messiah will travel to Reading, Pa. on Saturday, January 18, to compete at the Alvernia Winter Invitational.
Track Action
Action on the track began with the preliminary races in the short sprints, with the 60 Meter Hurdles the first to go off.
Kara Brown led the Falcons with the second-fastest time in the preliminary round, clocking 9.57 to win her heat by a margin of over 0.3 seconds. Brown was accompanied into the finals of a sprinting event by
Arwyn Gruenwald, who turned in an excellent performance of her own in the 60 Meter Dash with a time of 8.16 to qualify for the finals as the third-fastest racer in the qualifying round and the winner of her heat. Both qualified for MACs easily in their respective events with these performances.
The 5000 Meter Run was the next event on the track, with
Ella Swayne leading the Falcons with a new personal best time of 19:16.77, beating her previous personal record set at this meet last year by nearly 30 seconds. Her performance qualifies her for MACs by over a minute.
Madison Kimmel finished closely behind in a track personal record for the 5000 Meter Run, ending with a time of 19:39.15.
Aubrey Yeager also raced for the Falcons, crossing the line in a time of 20:59.08.
Several Falcons competed in the 800 Meter Run, with
Meagan Kime finishing as the top Falcon in an indoor personal best time of 2:35.05. Her time falls just about a second short of the MAC qualifying standard. Helen Blakeslee also ran a strong opening race with a time of 2:41.44, followed closely by
Linnea Haney crossing the line in a time of 2:45.45. Freshmen
Julia Kurayev and
Abigail Smith also made their debut for the Falcons, finishing with respective times of 2:57.77 and 3:02.29.Â
Next on the track were the finals of the short sprint events, with
Kara Brown taking an event win for the Falcons with a time of 9.59 in the 60 Meter Hurdles, besting her nearest competitor by over three-tenths of a second.
Arwyn Gruenwald followed up Brown's efforts with a second place finish in the 60 Meter Dash, finishing with an excellent season-opening time of 8.08 to improve significantly on her seed time from the preliminary round.
The Falcons claimed their second event win of the day with
Halle Jennett, who won the 400 Meter Dash in a personal best time of 1:01.67. Jennett, a senior, won the event by exactly a second and finished well below the Indoor MAC qualification in the process.
Clara Benner also ran a strong season-opening time of 1:05.42, securing her qualification in the event at Indoor MACs.
Kaitlynn Yeager ran the 400 Meter Dash for the Falcons in her collegiate debut, finishing with a time of 1:16.49.
Kara Brown was the sole Falcon to compete in the 200 Meter Dash, running just shy of her indoor personal best with a 28.98 clocking.Â
The Falcons had a strong contingent in the 3000 Meter Run, with a number of Falcons toeing the line together.
Olivia Miller led the Falcons by finishing in third overall with a time of 12:17.42, an indoor personal best, behind a very consistent race.
Julia Steel followed her teammate closely for much of the race, clocking a time of 12:24.89.
Meanwhile,
Grace Bath emerged as the top finisher amongst the pack of the remaining Falcon racers that began together in very close order, running a personal best time of 12:44.07 to shave two tenths off her lifetime PR.
Elizabeth Anthony and
Kelsey Hoffman finished very close together with respective times of 13:35.14 and 13:37.29, with
Caroline Shutts turning in a time of 14:16.43.
Lexi Lapp was credited with a time of 14:28.93 but had the unique distinction of accidentally running an extra lap and converting her race into the 3200 meter distance, meaning that her performance over 3000 meters would likely be about a minute faster.
Lia Widenhofer rounded out the Falcons' efforts in the event with a time of 15:11.99, a personal best.Â
The Falcons concluded their efforts on the track by fielding a single 4x400 Meter Relay team, which finished in third place overall with a time of 4:41.18 behind the combined efforts of
Clara Benner, Helen Blakeslee,
Linnea Haney, and
Meagan Kime.Â
In the Field
Action in the field began with the Weight Throw, where the Falcons were led by
Leah Ferster's mark of 11.19 meters, a distance that represents a MAC qualification for the senior.
Jaclyn Steenstra also qualified for MACs with a mark of 10.84 meters.
Ferster was joined by a quartet of Falcon freshmen in the Shot Put, where she finished as the top Falcon once again with a new personal record distance of 10.75 meters. Freshman
Ella Axtell finished with a mark of 9.71 meters in her collegiate debut, with fellow debutants
Ayva Sechman and
Leah Ritzman close behind with respective distances of 9.66 meters and 9.61 meters. All three, in addition to Ferster, qualified for Indoor MACs with their performances.
Sidney Avers also competed in the Shot Put for the Falcons, finishing with a distance of 8.64 meters.
Seniors
Hannah Witter and
Olivia Call opened their season with two very strong performances in the Pole Vault. Despite managing injury for the last several months and jumping off a shortened approach and shorter pole, Witter incredibly jumped a new lifetime personal best of 3.36 meters, besting her outdoor PR of 3.35 meters from the previous year. Witter achieved the third event win for the Falcons on the day with this performance, allowing her to improve her standing on the Messiah Indoor Top Ten list from fourth to third All-Time.
Olivia Call jumped a height of 2.44 meters, just a bit shy of the Indoor MAC Qualification, a mark that she seems likely to achieve in the subsequent competitions.
What's Up Next
After the conclusion of the fall semester and winter break, the Falcons will return to action at the Alvernia Winter Invitational, held on Saturday, January 18th. The entirety of the team will look to be in action at that meet at the start of the Spring semester after a number of absences today, with the rest hoping to build off today's strong performances.
