Chester, PA — On a sunny but chilly weekend in the outskirts of Philadelphia, the Messiah track and field team set many personal bests and institutional top-ten performances, as the program competed against hundreds of athletes at the Widener University Danny Curran Invitational Friday and Saturday.
The field events provided a lot of the excitement over the weekend, and previewed what looks to be a promising season. On Friday night, freshman Colin Resiler got things started hitting a new lifetime personal best in the pole vault. The Falcons’ coaching staff said they are excited to see him rapidly progress as he moves onto bigger poles. His mark of 13 feet, 11 and ¼ inches placed him fifth on the meet and moved him to eighth spot on Messiah’s all-time top 10 list.
Saturday morning, junior Alyssa Lengel got the momentum rolling once again, placing fifth in the hammer with a 14-foot personal best. Her mark of 118 feet, 7 inches bettered her third-best mark on the top 10 list.
Junior Emily Strait also improved her top 10 performance in the hammer throw, moving into ninth overall with a throw of 93 feet, 11 inches. Senior Matt Wicks also answered in the men’s hammer with a strong mark of 130 feet, 10 inches.
It was then freshman Hillary Pelkey’s turn to keep things rolling in the shot put, finishing seventh overall with a throw of 35 feet, 8 inches — a mark that moved her to eighth on Messiah’s all-time list. She then led the way in the javelin, finishing fourth with a mark of 116 feet, 4 inches on her final throw. That result moved her to fifth all-time.
Lengel also continued strong in the javelin, placing ninth with a throw of 104 feet, 11 inches. Following a powerful set of performances in the jav on Wednesday at York, senior AJ Smith and junior Jared High showed their consistency with more solid performances. Smith finished fourth with a throw of 187 feet, 6 inches to accompany his 188 feet, 8 and ½ inches throw on Wednesday. High threw 174 feet, 10 inches Saturday — not far from his huge lifetime personal best 177 feet, 9 and ¾ inches (and fifth-best mark in program history) set Wednesday.
Messiah’s distance runners started the track side of the meet on a good note on Friday evening, as junior Beau Wilson (16:38.93) and sophomore Mary Higgins (19:35.35) ran confidently in the 5,000 meters. Sophomores Matt Herring and Zach Hoagland followed in the 10,000-meter run, both turning in top 10 performances: Herring’s time of 33:10.58 moved him up to eighth all-time while Zach Hoagland joined the list in 10th with a time of 33:37.13.
Saturday, the senior men made the men’s 1,500-meter run an exciting race to watch. Senior Peter Shenk cruised on the last 400 to bring in third place with a time of 4:00.70. Classmate Eddy Palmer was not far behind, running a personal-best and 10th best all-time clip at Messiah with a mark of 4:02.91. Finally, senior Artie Black ran a huge lifetime personal best, 4:09.89.
Messiah’s mid-distance group continued to thrive in the 800 meters. Junior Grace Kaste finished second with a strong kick on the final 200 to post a time of 2:19.37. Sophomore Tyler Newhook showed his versatility as he ran a personal best in the 800 meters — and fifth-best time ever at Messiah — with a mark of 1:55.83. Freshman Aaron Reynolds also ran a collegiate personal best and won his heat with a time of 2:00.11. Finally, the Falcons’ track team welcomed junior Ryan Pastore back from the wrestling team, as he ran a solid 2:02.14.
Senior and recent two-time national champion Kristen Bates made her outdoor debut a good one, winning the 100-meter hrudles by over 1.6 seconds. Her time of :14.31 was a new meet record and NCAA provisionally qualifying mark. Sophomore Lauren Harte ran a smart 400-meter race, looking strong as she passed the competition on the home stretch. Her time of :60.52 placed her sixth overall for the meet.
The personal bests continued for Messiah in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Rhodes took home gold and set a five-second personal best, improving her fifth all-time mark, with a time of 11:49.92. Senior teammate Jackie VanArsdale followed behind in second place with a time of 12:15.07. On the men’s side, senior Jeff Smeiles took fifth, breaking the 10-minute barrier with a time of 9:55.95. Senior Trevor Book and sophomore Andrew Springer both posted strong performances to qualify for the MAC Championships in May.
Messiah’s track and field team will make its next full team appearance at home, as the Falcons will host the Messiah Invitational in two weeks. Combined events are set to begin Thursday (at 4 p.m.) while the bulk of the events will take place Saturday, Apr. 10.