Photo by Robert Isacson
By Dan DiLizia, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men’s track & field team collected a total of 28 top ten finishes on Saturday, Feb.1 at the SU Challenge in Selinsgrove, Pa at the James W. Garrett Sports Complex Field House.
Sophomore Jonathan White claimed the 200m dash for the River Hawks with a time of 23.32.
Senior Andrew DeBastiani was up next for Susquehanna, finishing sixth with a time of 24.67, while senior Mikah Christian placed ninth with a personal best time of 24.98.
Freshman Chance Singleton notched top honors in the 400m dash with a second-best Landmark time and a personal record of 52.56. Senior Chris Petraskie claimed first in the triple jump, posting third-best in the conference with a mark of 13.19m, while freshman Jake Newell collected third with a personal record.
Sophomore Jake Warehime led Susquehanna in the mile run with his second personal record of the contest with a time of 4:28.42 for second place. Freshman Isaiah Blatt placed second in the pole vault with a personal record of 4.20m. Sophomore Keefer Goodspeed finished fifth and Petraskie collected eighth.
Senior Danial Shelton finished third in the 60m dash finals with a time of 7.30, as well as setting a personal record of 7.26 in the preliminaries. Petraskie also claimed third in the high jump (1.88m), while senior Dylan Heisey took third in the weight throw (14.99m).
Senior Robert Marks paved the way for the River Hawks in the long jump, achieving 6.22m for fourth place. Heisey took seventh in the shot put with a league third-best of 13.10m, while senior Kashief Hyatt placed tenth. Sophomore Trent McGuire placed eighth in the 60m hurdle with a personal best time of 10.43, while junior Lance Hofer took ninth.
Finally, sophomore John Sabella tallied ninth in the 5,000m run with a time of 17:15.77, as junior Leonard Bolinsky placed 14th. “Overall, the team did pretty well, but we are all locked in for champs and plan on bringing home the championship,” freshman Jake Newell said.
Up next, the Hawks will travel to Brockport, NY on Feb. 7 for the Brockport Multi. They will also compete on Feb. 8 at the Alvernia Plex Shootout in Reading, Pa.
Meanwhile, the Susquehanna women’s track & field team notched a relay record during the same meet.
During the 4x800m relay, four runners consisting of senior Alexa Pietrini, juniors Marissa Kleman and Kate Ross and freshman Kallan Carter set a school-record time of 9:59.78, beating the previous record by over 10 seconds.
Ross won the 800m with a personal best time of 2:22.20, qualifying for the AARFTC yet again in another event, and beating a Division I competitor by over five seconds.
Pietrini was the next finisher for the River Hawks in the 800m, placing ninth with a time of 2:35.53. Senior Samantha Reed tallied first place in the 200m dash with a time of 27.10, while freshmen Lizabeth Fessler and Sarah Urban took fifth and sixth, respectively.
Senior Erin Reese took the lead for the River Hawks in the 5,000m run with a time of 19:06.96. Junior Sara Arbogast notched her second AARFTC-qualifying mark in the triple jump, finishing second with 10.84m.
Senior Maya Khanna placed fifth in the triple jump, with Fessler coming in behind her in sixth and sophomore Faith Shaffer placing ninth. Junior Ryleigh Edwards paved the way for Susquehanna in the pole vault with a secondplace finish of 3.05m. Reed came in third during the 60m dash with a time of 8.38, while Carter placed fourth in the mile run with a personal best time of 5:33.05.
“There were a lot of great performances for a small meet,” Reed said. “We hope to keep improving for championships.”
Urban paced the River Hawks in the 400m dash, placing fourth with a time of 1:05.85, followed by senior Morgan Markle, who notched tenth. Fessler went on to place fifth in the 60m hurdles, with Khanna taking sixth in the long jump, followed by Shaffer in ninth.
Senior Emily Eck was the first to finish for the River Hawks, placing sixth in the 3000m with a time of 11:34.52, followed by senior Katherine Mayer, who placed eighth.
Sophomores Fiona Blake and Amy Fisher took 12th and 14th in the high jump, respectively. Sophomore Abigail Sholders notched 13th in the weight throw with a personal record of 10.22m, followed by junior Kristen Blair, who took 16th.
Sophomore Jenna Juntunen claimed a 13th-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 9.40m, followed by a 16th-place finish by Blair and a 20th-place finish by Sholders.
The women’s team will join the men in both of their upcoming meets at Brockport in New York and at Alvernia in Reading, Pa.
