MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - The Messiah Men's Track and Field performed very well at the Millersville Metrics Invitational, hosted across two days on Friday night and throughout the day Saturday. Conditions on Friday were ideal for distance racing, but Saturday was accompanied by cooler temperatures and windy gusts, meaning that conditions were not conducive to strong performances in a number of events on the second day of competition. The Falcons still competed very well and finished in 3rd place as a team with a score of 73 points, finishing behind only Division II Millersville and Shippensburg and ahead of several conference rivals. The Falcons also achieved 12 new MAC qualifications and two new entries on the Messiah Outdoor All-Time Top Ten list, including the highlight of a new school record in the pole vault, making the most of a lower-energy meet to perform very well across both days.
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On the Track
The Falcons had a number of competitors to open the meet in Friday night's 5000m, led by
Teddi Powell and her third place overall finish with a MAC-qualifying time of 18:42.61. Powell led most of the race at a consistent pace around 6:00 per mile before the race was broken open with roughly a mile to go and the lead pack, containing herself and teammate
Ella Swayne, was split apart. Powell carried on strongly to the finish to place third as Swayne followed closely behind, the latter finishing with a MAC-qualifying time of 18:48.77 and ended up in 5th place. Close behind,
Kayra DeVries, who had run with the swift pace of the lead pack through the first half of the race, carried on very well to the finish after being dropped with a blazing last 400m of 1:23 to finish with a huge personal best time of 19:03.41.
Aubrey Yeager ran an impressive race with very even splits to finish with a time of 20:00.43 in her first outdoor competition, while
Samantha Mynio finished close behind with a new personal best time of 20:21.36, carried by a final 400m of 1:32.
Grace Bath finished with a time of 21:46.44 that sits just shy of her personal record effort from the previous week, while
Abi Ferry followed up her sub-22 performance at Widener with another great race in a time of 22:28.25.
Lia Widenhofer closed out the Falcons' efforts with a time of 25:42.66.
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Action on the track on Saturday began with the women's 100m hurdle prelims, with
Kara Brown running a season-best time of 15.84 to qualify as the third racer into the finals as the sole Falcon in the event. Brown would later repeat her finish in third in the final, finishing with another season-best time of 15.81 to inch closer to her personal best time of 15.50 from the previous year.
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The women's 1500m was up next, with
Elana Pineda running an exceptional race to finish second overall with a personal best and MAC-qualifying time of 4:57.37. Pineda ran patiently with the lead pack in what turned out to be a kickers' race before closing her race with an incredible final 400m of 1:12.9 to place second overall and break 5 minutes.
Lexi Lapp also ran an excellent race to narrowly beat her personal record behind a swift close in the home stretch, finishing with a time of 5:56.71.
Kelsey Hoffman finished close behind with a time of 6:10.74, while
Julia Rickard finished with a time of 7:17.71.
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The Falcons were well-represented in the 800m, with
Kerrigan Lebo finishing atop the pack of Falcon racers and in third place overall with a time of 2:23.76. Lebo ran a race that was exactly evenly-paced with both quarters being timed at 1:11.88, allowing her to move up very well through the field in the second half of the race.
Madison Kimmel finished close behind with a season-best time of 2:25.76 achieved with a negative split race, moving her all the way up to fifth place overall by the finish. Isabel Rodriguez returned to the track for her first individual race since January with a time of 2:32.05, pushing
Meagan Kime all the way to the line as the latter finished with a time of 2:32.10.
Juliette Safer finished very close behind with a time of 2:34.32. Katie Garnder achieved a narrow season-best clocking with a time of 2:38.06, surpassing her time of 2:38.62 from the previous week.
Linnea Haney stopped the clock with a time of 2:49.25, while
Abigail Smith rounded out the Falcons' efforts with a time of 3:19.92.
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Clara Benner was the sole Falcon representative in the 400m hurdles, running a time of 1:09.05 to place third overall in the event.
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The final event contested on the track was the 4x400m relay, in which the Falcons fielded two teams. The first featured
Clara Benner,
Meagan Kime,
Kerrigan Lebo, and
Elana Pineda, with the quartet combining for a quick time of 4:16.19 behind Pindea's team-best anchor split of 61.09. The Falcons also fielded a "B" Team, made up of
Isabela Rodriguez,
Juliette Safer,
Katie Gardner, and
Linnea Haney, which finished in a time of 4:36.67.
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In the Field
The only field event held on the opening night of the competition was the hammer throw, where
Leah Ferster and
Jaclyn Steenstra combined for a set of impressive performances for the Falcons. Ferster set a new personal record distance with a throw of 37.82m, breaking her old best mark by 4 centimeters and updating her own Messiah Outdoor Top Ten All-Time mark in 8th.
Jaclyn Steenstra finished just behind her personal best from last week's outdoor season opener with a mark of 36.44m, finishing two places behind her teammate in the finishing order.
Ella Axtell and
Sidney Avers both finished narrowly the MAC-qualifying distance in the hammer with respective personal record throws of 26.40m and 25.30m in their debuts at the event.
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Field action on Saturday opened with the pole vault, which supplied perhaps the highlight of the weekend for the Falcons behind
Hannah Witter's second outdoor school record in the vault in as many competitions. A week after clearing 3.50m (11' 5.75") at Widener to set a new school record, Witter went one better after a first-time clearance at 3.50m with a third-time clearance at 3.65m (11' 11.75"), setting a new school record by an incredible 15 centimeters and surpassing even her indoor personal best despite the gusting wind. Witter took an additional three attempts at 3.76m (12' 4") and will have the opportunity to improve again on her own school record in subsequent competitions.
Olivia Call also competed in the pole vault for the first time since December, clearing a height of 2.30m (7' 6.5"), a height which
Rachel Hartman also attempted three times and will seek to clear next week.
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In the shot put,
Leah Ferster finished atop the list of Falcons just as in the hammer with a mark of 10.71m (35' 1.75"), an outdoor season best put.
Ella Axtell also earned a personal best mark with a distance of 10.11m (33' 2").
Leah Ritzman finished very close behind with a season-best outdoor throw of 9.99m (32' 9.5"), while
Ayva Sechman also set an outdoor season-best mark with a distance of 9.64m (31' 7.5").
Kara Brown also finished with a distance of 8.33m (27' 4"), while
Beth Cummings returned to competition for the first time since last winter with a college-best distance of 6.47m (21' 2.75").
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The Falcons earned their second event win of the day following Witter's efforts in the high jump, with
Kara Brown topping the field with a season-best and MAC-qualifying clearance at 1.50m. Leah Youtzy also performed well in her debut as a Falcon, finishing with a MAC-qualifying height of 1.45m (4' 9").
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The field events concluded with the discus throw, with
Leah Ritzman leading a group of six Falcons in the event with a MAC-qualifying throw of 30.82m.
Jaclyn Steenstra finished close behind with a top MAC-qualifying throw of 29.55m.
Carolina Hatch and
Sidney Avers finished side-by-side in the event a bit further down the finishing order, with the duo throwing respective distances of 25.91m and 25.89m in what stands as a personal best for the latter.
Beth Cummings also achieved a personal best in the discus throw with a mark of 20.48m in what stands as her second personal best on the day.
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What's Up Next
The Messiah Women's Track and Field team will return to action next weekend at the Messiah Multi and Invitational, which will be hosted across three days on April 10th-12th at the Starry Outdoor Track. The Falcons will look to perform their best especially for their home meet and looking forward to hosting roughly 20 different teams for the competition next week.
