Photo Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Ashley Nace
Susquehanna had three River Hawks compete in the SU Outdoor Multi Track and Field meet at Robert I. Estill Field House on Thursday and Friday.
Junior Katie Wojton finished eleventh in the Women’s Heptathlon, and senior Rowan Smith and first-year Liam Messina finished third and tenth in the Men’s Decathlon.
Over the course of the two days, everyone competed in track and field events, from hurdles to javelin. Wojton’s heptathlon consisted of seven events while Smith and Messina’s decathlon consisted of ten events.
Smith, the highest finisher of the River Hawks, finished at the top of several events.
On the track, Smith finished first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.13. He also finished third in the 110-meter dash, only 0.02 seconds behind Messina, who finished second.
Smith took fifth in both the 400-meter dash and the 1500-meter run.
On the field, Smith’s top performances were his high jump and long jump, each of which he placed fourth. He jumped 1.81m in the high jump and 6.28m in the long jump.
To wrap up his field performances, Smtih placed fifth in the javelin throw and shot put, seventh in the discus throw, and eighth in the pole vault.
Smith’s performance was followed by his teammate Messina, who proved to be a force on the track, finishing in the top five of all four events, including his second-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.55.
Crossing the line in 52.31, Messina finished third in the 400-meter dash and took the fourth-place spot just ahead of Smith in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:09:14. He finished his track events with a fifth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles.
Messina’s best field event was the high jump, as he finished in sixth. In the long jump, he placed seventh. He took the tenth-place spot in both the pole vault and javelin throw.
To round out his meet, Messina competed in the shot put and discus throw events, finishing eleventh in both.
In the Women’s Heptathlon, Wojton made her best appearance on the track in the 800-meter run. She finished in second place with a time of 2:31:48, a mere 0.06 seconds behind the first-place finisher.
In the 200-meter dash, Wojton came in at seventh and backed it up with an eighth-place finish in the 100-meter dash to finish her track events.
On the field, Wojton struggled a bit. Her top performance in the javelin throw came out to a ninth-place finish. In the long jump and shot put, she came in tenth place. Wojton did not record a height in the high jump event.
All in all, the River Hawks made a decent showing in their home competition.
More River Hawks will compete on Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12 at Bucknell in the Bison Classic.