Excitement For MAC Championships Builds At Susquehanna Open
Junior Ted Simmons again was tops in the high jump, coming ever-so-close to qualifying for nationals with a 6 feet, 4 and 3/4 inch clearance Saturday.

Selinsgrove, PA — In a final tune-up for next week’s MAC Championships, the Messiah track and field program competed at Saturday’s Susquehanna University Open — qualifying a variety of athletes for the league championships on the final day to do so.

Twenty season-best marks for the Falcons’ women and 18 for the men highlighted the long day at Susquehanna, as two more school records fell. Messiah’s distance medley relay team of sophomore Grace Kaste, freshman Lauren Harte, freshman Brooke Airey and junior Erin Rhodes clocked a 12:25.80 to win the event, bettering their time of 12:28.97 set at the New Balance Collegiate meet two weeks ago. Later Saturday, Messiah’s foursome of sophomore Jesse Weidemann, junior Cory Kaufman, junior Eddy Palmer and senior Patrick Roach set a new school record in the men’s 4 X 800, breaking the eight-minute barrier for the first time in program history with a 7:59.29.

That clip edged a talented Moravian College group (8:01.19) for first place in the event, while the pair of program records marked the fifth weekend of the season that multiple school records were broken. No team scores were kept at the day-long meet.

Messiah’s vaunted distance medley relay team of Kaufman, Weidemann, Roach and freshman Tyler Newhook won by nearly 16.5 seconds as well Saturday, posting a 10:17.96 clocking. That squad will enter next week’s MAC Championships as the top seed. The Falcons’ women’s 4 X 800 relay team of Airey, Harte, Rhodes and Harte also won by a large margin, finishing in 9:53.64 — nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second-place group from the host institution.

Junior Matt Wicks got the day started on the right foot with a strong performance in the weight throw, tossing a lifetime personal best 44 feet, 2 and ¾ inches. On the women’s side, sophomore Alyssa Lengel threw the weight for the first time this season with a solid 32 feet, 8 and ¼ inches heave — easily qualifying for MACs.

Junior Ted Simmons again remained steady in the high jump competition, winning the event with a clearance of 6 feet, 4 and ¾ inches. Simmons once again came just shades away from qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships with his 6 feet, 7 and ½ inches attempt in the preliminaries — a height he nearly cleared. He finished fourth in the nation in last year’s national championships.

Also in the field, sophomore Emily Strait qualified for next week’s conference championship meet with a season-best 29 feet, 8 and ¾ inch-performance in the shot put. Junior Kristen Bates took on a smaller load during the day, only competing in the triple jump competition (an event she won with a 36 feet, 4 and ¾ inches leap). Senior Jason Brown finished fifth in that event on the men’s side, clearing a distance of 41 feet, 1 inch. Brown also recorded an indoor personal best in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 7 inches.

On the track, Messiah was led by senior Delilah Ruiz, as the speedster won the 55-meter hurdles in a meet-best :09.06. Senior Jennifer Kooser finished fifth in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 11:06.28, while freshman Kate Spiering finished third in the 5,000, running a 33-second personal record 19:49.85. Classmate Mary Higgins took home fifth in a 20:02.06 clip, an 11-second personal best.

Junior Artie Black was among the leaders on the track for the men, finishing 10th in the mile (4:40.39). Junior Peter Shenk finished eighth in the men’s 800, running a personal-best 2:01.97. In the men’s 5,000-meter run, Freshman Matt Herring ran an 11-second personal best to finish third and qualify for MACs with a time of 16:21.59.

The team will spend this week in final preparations for the big event, as Messiah will compete in the 2009 MAC Championships Saturday at Lehigh University.