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Falcons Claim Eight Individual Honors At Jim Taylor Invitational
Jen Kooser's 10K effort was the second-best in school history.

Selinsgrove, PA — The Messiah College men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the 24th annual Susquehanna University Jim Taylor Invitational Saturday, claiming eight individual wins. No team scores were kept at the meet.

Junior Patrick Roach provided perhaps the biggest highlight of the day for Messiah, winning the men’s 800-meter run in a school-record 1:53.83. Roach’s time bettered the former mark of 1:53.83 set by Phillip Gault in 1996.

Roach was able to out-kick rival Drew Graybeal of Elizabethtown College — who finished second in a time of 1:54.27 — while former Messiah standout Eric Bofinger finished third overall in a time of 1:56.40, running unattached.

Roach’s clip was just .63 of a second off qualifying for NCAA national competition.

Senior Michael Dell won both the shot put competition (43 feet, 1 and ¾ inches) and discus (122 feet, 10 inches). Senior Nick Kipe claimed the title in the triple jump competition with a distance of 45 feet, 7 inches.

On the women’s slate, junior Jenny Kooser won the 10,000-meter race in a time of 37:48.58, just :08.58 seconds from a national qualifying time while good enough for Messiah’s second-best clip in school history. Senior Amy Reed claimed wins in both the javelin (138 feet, five inches) and the long jump (17 feet, 9 and ½ inches), while finishing third in the 100-meter hurdles (:16.43).

Senior Rachel Hepkins matched Roach’s feat with a win in the women’s 800-meter run (2:18.79), while the Falcons provided a number of runner-up places throughout the day: Sophomore Artie Black claimed second place in the men’s 10,000-meter race (32:51.11), senior Michael Dell in the 110-meter hurdles (:16.74), junior Dylan Rulander in the 1,500-meter run (4:07.68), and freshman Caleb Schenk in the 400-meter hurdles (:58.97).

Sophomore Trent Zempel recorded a personal best 12 feet, 11 and ½ inch second-place finish in the pole vault, while junior Kevin Markovic tossed a 79 feet, 8 inch effort in the hammer throw (eighth best in program history) while sophomore Bridget Nace recorded a 74 feet, 4 inch toss in the women’s event — the 10th-best mark in Messiah history.

Freshman Alyssa Lengel also recorded a top 10 result in the women’s javelin, as her sixth-place, 100 feet, 4 inch effort was the seventh-best toss in school history.

Messiah will next travel to the Muhlenberg College Invitational next Saturday. Events are slated to begin at 10 a.m.