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Messiah Goes 3-0 At Home Quad-Dual Meet
Grantham, PA — It was a successful start to the 2008 outdoor track and field season for the Messiah College program Wednesday afternoon, as the Falcons took three wins in a quadrangle-dual meet amidst gorgeous weather conditions at Starry Athletic Complex. A strong tailwind and temperatures in the lower 60’s provided a backdrop conducive for success, as the Messiah men defeated Columbia Union College 136-42, bettered Dickinson College 127-55 and nearly doubled up Gettysburg College by a 121-64 decision. The results were equally as impressive on the women’s side, as the Falcons handled Columbia Union (144-19), Dickinson (136-36) and Gettysburg (121-70) with ease. Individually, Messiah received a plethora of outstanding efforts, led by a foursome of NCAA national qualifying marks: Sophomore Kristen Bates hit the provisional qualifying standards in both the triple jump and the 100-meter hurdles, while senior Nick Kipe reached that status in the men’s triple jump as well. Senior Amy Reed — just days removed from playing in the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship — was the team’s first automatic qualifier in the javelin, winning the event with a first-place heave of 146 feet. Considering Wednesday’s event came just a week and a half after the program had its best-ever showing at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships (the team secured four All-American honors), head coach Dale Fogelsanger was beaming afterward. “It was a very worthwhile Wednesday night meet for us,” he said. “We had great weather, and we opened the (outdoor) season with maybe 25 to 30 percent of our team hitting personal bests. It’s tough to schedule mid-week meets like this, but tonight was a very good start to the season.” Organizing the four-team event as three separate dual meets didn’t diminish Messiah’s domination of the overall heats, as Bates again led the way for the women. An All-American in both the triple jump and 55-meter hurdles in the indoor championships, Bates claimed Wednesday’s triple jump crown with a leap of 37 feet, 11 and ¼ inches. That mark broke the 12-year old school record of 37 feet, 2 inches, set by Janine Shirk in 1996. Bates added a win in the 100-meter hurdles in a clip of :14.86, breaking Reed’s old school record of :14.92 set last year. She then added overall heat wins in the 100-meter dash (:12.96) and the high jump (5 feet, 4 inches), finishing second in the long jump as well (16 feet, 4 and ½ inches). “Kristen started the outdoor season right where she left off from indoors, hitting two provisional qualifying marks,” Fogelsanger said. “Her 5-4 high jump was also a personal best.” Reed — a returning All-American in both the javelin and the heptathlon — punched her ticket to this year’s national event via her meet-best javelin toss, while claiming second in the 400-meter dash (1:03.65). Senior Rachel Hepkins won that event in a time of :59.38, while freshman Megan Sisson finished third overall in a 1:04.70 clip. The Falcons’ women’s side also received stellar performances from junior Jennifer Kooser — first in both the 1,500-meter run (4:58.41) and the 5,000-meter race (18:30.69) — while sophomore Laura Carbone won both the 400-meter hurdles (1:11.50) and the pole vault (8 feet, 6 inches). Classmate Inna Potekhina took first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 12:37.16, while sophomore Erin Rhoades finished second in the 1,500 and the 5,000 with 5:12.58 and 19:58.15 clips, respectively. “Rachel Hepkins had a very good time in the 400 while Jenny Kooser was another two event winner for us,” Fogelsanger said. Kipe notched three wins for the men’s side, notching a distance of 46 feet, 3 and ¼ inches in his provisional-qualifying triple jump leap. He also claimed first-place honors in the 100-meter dash (:11.25) and in the long jump, clearing a length of 21 feet, 10 inches. Junior Patrick Roach carded wins in both the 200-meter (:22.66) and 400-meter dashes (:49.10), while senior Patrick Hager won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:24.99. That was part of a Messiah sweep in the top three spots, as sophomores Trevor Book (10:36.32) and Jeff Smeiles (10:36.84) finished at nearly the same time. Other top performances came from sophomores Eddy Palmer in the 800-meter run (first in a time of 2:01.98) and Cory Kaufman in the 1,500 (first in a 4:11.68 clip). Sophomore Artie Black won the 5,000-meter race in a time of 16:18.80. Sophomore Ted Simmons finished right behind Kipe in both the long jump (21 feet, 3 and ½ inches) and the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches), while junior Jason Brown followed closely behind Kipe in the triple jump with a second-place finish of 40 feet, 2 and ¾ inches. Sophomore A.J. Smith claimed top javelin honors with a heave of 173 feet, 9 inches, while junior Kevin Markovic earned praises from Fogelsanger with his 42 feet, 8 and ¾ inch toss in the shot put. “Kevin’s best going in was 37 feet and he come out with a 42 foot shot put tonight,” Fogelsanger mused. “I think as a team, we were definitely more intense in indoor (competition this year), and it didn’t hurt that we were coming off of spring break for today’s meet. Our athletes just relaxed and competed. They weren’t coming to a meet with the test, the paper and the all-night studying preceding them. I think that helped allow us to hit the technical positions, especially in the field events. Our throwers are really coming along and becoming a scoring nucleus of the team.” Messiah will next travel to Susquehanna University for the Jim Taylor Invitational on Saturday. Meet time is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Complete team scoring for Wednesday's meet is below. Men Women |
