By Tre Shuttlesworth, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men and women’s track and field teams participated in the SU Challenge Saturday at the Garrett Sports Complex and found success throughout the day.
Junior Chris Petraskie’s fifth-place finish in the high jump and senior Ciaran Fisher’s fourth-place effort in the 3,000-meter run were highlights for the men’s team.
The women’s team saw strong showings as the 4×800 relay team broke the school record en route to their victory and junior Erin Reese earned an All-Atlantic Regional Championship berth in her second place, 3000-meter run effort.
“I felt like I got hit by a bus,” Reese said.
Fisher placed fourth out of 30 runners with a 9:08.12 in his 3,000-meter run, narrowly defeating competitive Division II athletes.
Petraskie put in an impresssive showing in both the high jump and triple jump. He placed fifth with 1.93-meter high jump, while finishing seventh with a 12.63 meter triple jump.
The 4×200 relay team of Freshman Jonathon White, sophomore Donovan Gayles, junior Andrew Debastiani, and senior Rakee Comwell put in an impressive fourth place run with a time of 1:38.78.
White would also finish seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.90.
The women’s 4×800 relay team of junior Alexa Pietrini, sophomore Marissa Kleman, junior Erin Reese, and sophomore Kate Ross finished first beating out five competitors as they beat the school record by three seconds with a time of 10:09.92.
“I was nervous before the race began but we had good competition and it pushed us to run at a faster pace,” Ross said.
“The coaches prepared us well this week and I’m happy with the outcome.”
Ross also added that it was the only chance for their relay team to break the indoor track record, since the team would not run the event until the outdoor season starts in late March, which uses different records.
Reese would go on to finish second out of 33 in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:37.89, which qualifies her for the All-Atlantic Regional Championship.
Sophomore Ryleigh Edmonds tied for fourth place in the pole vault with a 3.05-meter jump. Ross also finished 12th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:06.64, adding to her successful afternoon.
“I haven’t ran the 400 in a while so I wasn’t sure what to expect but once I got onto the track I felt comfortable and ready to run,” Ross said.
Junior Maya Khanna finished 10th place in the triple jump with a 9.64-meter jump.
Both the men and women’s track and field teams will return to action on Sunday, Feb. 10 when they travel to Ithaca, N.Y. for the Cornell Invitational. Susquehanna will also be preparing for the SU Invitational afterwards on Feb. 16 and for the Landmark Conference Indoor Championship on Feb. 23. Both teams are currently predicted to come into the championship meet third overall in the conference.