The Muhlenberg Weekly

Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Sports

Last weekend the Men's and Women's Track and Field teams traveled to Haverford College for the highly anticipated Centennial Conference Championships. Numerous athletes contributed strong performances in this critical meet, qualifying for the ECACs and breaking records. The Women's Team finished in third place by one half of a point, while the Men's Team claimed fourth.

The first day of competition opened with a bang as freshman Alex Faust claimed first place in the pole vault, clearing a height of 11 feet. In doing so, Faust also set a meet record in the event and earned the Most Outstanding Performer award for field events. The Women Team's second gold medal came on the second day of competition, when senior Katie Hesselink-Hicks soared inches above her previous personal best in the high jump. Hesselink-Hicks cleared a height of 5'4.25", qualifying for the ECACs but missing both the school record and the NCAA standard by less than one inch. Junior Sara Gearin also shined for the Mules as she improved her 3,000 meter time by more than eight seconds. With a time of 10:49.44, Gearin finished in eighth place and qualified for the ECACs. Seniors Jacquelyn Inverso and Rachel Drosdick had successful meets, placing in four and three events respectively. Both Inverso and Drosdick ran ECAC qualifying times in the 55 meter hurdles. Another outstanding performance came from freshman Debra Crockett in the shot put. Crockett claimed second with a throw of 36'8.5", setting a new school record. The Women's relay teams were also quite successful. The 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams placed second, third and fourth respectively. Due to the combined efforts of all of the Muhlenberg women, the team was able to claim third place in the Centennial Conference, finishing only one half of a point behind second-place Johns Hopkins.

Despite some setbacks, the injury stricken Men's Team also faired well at the Conference meet, finishing fourth overall. The 4x800 relay team of Stuart Udis '09, Steve Rothwell '07, Pat Thornton '10 and Lex Mercado '07 provided the Mules with their only gold medal. Although the Mules slightly trailed Haverford approaching the final leg of the race, the Mules' anchor, Mercado, was able to pass the Haverford runner down the home stretch, claiming first place with a time of 7:59.36. The Mules' other relay teams also performed well as the 4x400 team of Eric Miller '10, Bill Ryan '10, Dan Steinhart '08 and Mercado finished in second with a time of 3:30.16.

Several athletes had success in multiple individual events. Steinhart placed in both the 200 and 400 meter races, while Mercado placed in the 800 meters and the mile. Sophomore David Chorney also placed in the mile, and was fourth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:48.33, setting a new school record. Udis was involved in a photo finish in the 800 meters, finishing in second place by only one tenth of a second. Junior Michael Karchner and senior Matt Sallese both provided the Mules with ECAC qualifying performances, as Karchner placed second in the long jump and Sallese claimed third place in the shot put. Overall, the Men's Team combined for a total of 79 points, which was good enough to earn fourth place in the Centennial Conference.

Numerous athletes from both the Men's and Women's Teams will return to action on March 2nd and 3rd at the ECAC Championships, which will be held at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.

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