Messiah Makes Noise At Penn Relays; Two School Records Broken
Junior Kristen Bates recorded a new school record in the triple jump Friday, finishing third overall in the College East Division.

Philadelphia, PA/Shippensburg, PA — It was another successful weekend for the Messiah track and field program, as the Falcons sent athletes to both the historic Penn Relays and the Shippensburg Paul Kaiser Classic.

Perhaps most notable was Messiah’s performances at the 115th running of the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania — the world’s largest annual track meet.

Senior Frank Eanes posted a school-record 14:48.98 in the 5,000-meter run Thursday night while junior Kristen Bates shattered her old school best in the triple jump Friday morning, landing a third-place result in the College East Division.

Eanes’ 10 p.m. run Thursday night broke a six-year old record, as the senior shaved nearly 12 seconds off his old personal best to outdo Edward Doreau’s 14:55.28, set in 2003.

Eanes finished 25th out of 47 athletes in the Olympic Development men’s 5,000.

Bates then stole the spotlight Friday morning, leaping a distance of 39 feet and ¼ inches in the triple jump — a mark that bettered her school-record 38-feet, 9 and ¾ inches mark set last season. Bates finished third behind the University of Long Island’s Heather Patton (40 feet, 2 and ¼ inches) and Penn’s Camile Richard (39 feet, 6 inches), earning her first medal at the Penn Relays.

Bates then concluded her day by running the 100-meter hurdles in :14.43 — just off her school-record and NCAA Division III season-best :14.15, set at last weekend’s Messiah Invitational.

Messiah’s men’s 4 X 400 relay team of sophomore Jesse Weidemann, junior Eddy Palmer, junior Peter Shenk and senior Patrick Roach finished third in the College Men’s Pop Haddleton MAC heat, clocking a 3:24.55. The Falcons’ women’s 4 X 400 team competed in the College Women’s Centennial/MAC heat Thursday afternoon — sophomore Grace Kaste, freshman Lauren Harte, freshman Brooke Airey and sophomore Megan Sisson comprised that team — finishing 10th in 4:14.71.

On a bittersweet note, Messiah saw its event-record time of 3:57.27 beaten by Haverford College Thursday night, as the Fords’ group finished first in 3:57.07. Messiah set the event record at last year’s Penn Relays, as Kaste, Bates and ’08 grads Amy Reed and Rachel Hepkins set the mark.

Saturday afternoon, Roach, Palmer, Weidemann and freshman Tyler Newhook competed in the College Open 4 X 800, finishing fifth in their heat out of 12 with a great time of 7:40.08. Roach led off to put Messiah in an early lead, while the Falcons held the advantage for three laps thanks to a strong performance from Palmer on the second leg. Newhook then followed with a personal-best split on the third, followed by Shenk who closed with a strong anchor performance.

The Penn Relays is the world’s largest annual track meet, held at the University of Pennsylvania’s historic Franklin Field. Complete results are available at ThePennRelays.com, the official site of the 115th running of the Penn Relay Carnvial.

In addition to its participation at the Penn Relays, Messiah sent a large number of athletes to the Shippensburg University Paul Kaiser Classic on Saturday. Serving as the final team tune-up before next week’s MAC Championships, Messiah again put a large number of impressive performances on the board, led by a slew of strong efforts in the field events. Freshmen Abby McDonald and Emily Brantner each cleared 9 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault — a mark that moved McDonald up to seventh on the program’s top 10 list. On the men’s side, freshman Rich Pennisi qualified for MACs with a season-best 12 foot leap; classmate Chris Vasaturo and sophomore Derek Forney both jumped season-best 12 feet, 6 inch efforts.

In the long jump, junior Brandon Parry had a season-best 9 feet, 6 inch clearance, qualifying for next week’s MAC Championships. Junior AJ Smith finished fifth in the javelin, throwing a season-best 54.47 meters, and had a lifetime-best 31.77 meter toss in the hammer throw.

Sophomore Alyssa Lengel moved up the top ten list in the javelin throwing 33.55 meters — finishing third.

On the track, Bates made the trip over to Shippensburg, finishing second in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of :66.98. Sophomore Abby Glenzel ran a personal-best :69.23 in the same event, finishing seventh out of 22 competitors.

Messiah shone in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, as sophomore Cody Rosenbarker (:58.75), freshman Austin Holt (:59.38), Pennisi (:60.85), junior Jeff Smeiles (:62.43) and junior Trevor Book (:64.06) all ran personal best times. Rosenbarker and Holt qualified for MACs with their performances while Pennisi narrowly missed by just .61 of a second.

In other track performances, freshman Drew Melnick had a personal-record :53.51 in the 400-meter dash, qualifying for the conference championships. Kaste finished second in the women’s 800 meters (2:17.58), while junior Cory Kaufman finished third in the men’s 1,500 with a strong time of 4:04.19. Junior Josh Stone also qualified for MACs in the men’s steeplechase, finishing in a time of 11:06.05.

Messiah will next compete in the MAC Championship meet next Saturday at Elizabethtown College. Detailed meet information can be foundat the official website of the MAC Championships.