By Rachael Cataldo, Asst. sports editor
The Susquehanna men and women’s track and field teams opened up their 2018 outdoor season on Saturday, March 31 by hosting the 34th Annual Jim Taylor Invitational on Amos Alonzo Stagg Field in Selinsgrove.
“Since the weather was nice on Saturday, the transition [from indoor to outdoor season] wasn’t terrible,” freshman Tessa Rendina said. “Usually times are faster outside, so hopefully we’ll see improvements soon.”
The River Hawks had many top-10 finishes on both the men and women’s side in the non-team scoring event.
The invitational featured teams from the NCAA Division I and II levels including Bucknell, Saint Francis, Juniata, Frostburg State, Lock Haven and Penn State Harrisburg.
“It was a little discouraging to compete against DI and DII athletes because I knew they were better,” freshman Rachel Seiler said. “I placed ninth running against five DI athletes so I’m excited for the upcoming season and to see how I perform against other DIII schools.”
For the women’s team, sophomore Erin Reese placed sixth in the 5k race, crossing the finish line in 18:15.83.
Freshman Ryleigh Edmonds finished fifth (9-06.25) in the pole vault.
Sophomore Alysa DaveyBostic took sixth in the high jump (4-09.75) while sophomore Alexa Pietrini and freshman Kate Ross finished in eighth and ninth place respectively in the 800-meter race. Pietrini clocked a time of 2:30.65 and Ross finished with a time of 2:31.92.
Senior Kailyn Reilly finished in 10th place with a time of 4:55.28 in the 1500.
Sophomore Samantha Reed finished ninth in both the 100 and 200-meter dash races. Reed clocked a time of 13.29 in the 100 and 27.10 in the 200-meter dash.
Seiler had a ninth-place finish in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:15.40.
Seiler said her goal is to beat her own personal record and she “hopes to achieve it through hard work and dedication.”
Sophomore Morgan Markle said, “My goals are mainly just to push myself in order to get better, keep myself healthy, and enjoy the time I get to spend with my team.”
Rendina is coming off of an injury and would like to focus on dropping her times and running her first collegiate 800m.
For the men’s team, sophomore Chris Petraskie cleared a height of 6’6” to win the high jump and placed fifth in the long jump (21-03.50) for the River Hawks.
Petraskie was also rewarded with the Landmark Conference Field Athlete of the Week Award on Monday, April 2 by the conference office.
Senior Ryan Bertsch finished sixth in the hammer throw (137-11.00) while sophomore Dylan Heisey threw 136-07.00 to finish seventh in the hammer throw.
Heisey also took ninth place for discus (122-10.00.)
Freshman Jason Card finished seventh in the shot put (41-07.75) and junior Rakee Cromwell took 10th in the long jump (20-00.05.)
Freshman Paul Jones finished seventh in the 400 with a time of 52.57 and 12th in the 200 clocking a 23.61.
The River Hawks will return to action on Saturday, April 7 at the Millersville Metrics Meet. The meet is scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. start.