Photo taken by Margaret Fanelli.
By Nicole Hauck, Staff Writer
Susquehanna’s men and women’s track and field team both placed third at the Landmark Conference Indoor Championship on Feb. 23 in Selinsgrove.
The men’s track and field ended the meet with 102 points while the women ended with 98 points. Moravian came in first place with 173 points and Elizabethtown came in second with 152 points for the males. Similarly, Moravian was in first, ending with 147 points and Elizabethtown in second place with 110 points.
Junior multi Chris Petraskie and Freshman sprinter and jumper Johnathon White had a very strong showing on Saturday. Petraskie had earned the Landmark Conference Field Athlete of the Year and White had many solid wins in different events for Susquehanna. White had won the 200-meter dash, placed fifth in 60-meter dash and helped the River Hawks have a huge comeback in the 4×400 meter relay which ended the meet for SU.
Petraskie earned a long jump distance of 6.72, the closest any other team got to him was getting a 6.50 meter. Petraskie continued and won the high jump event, reaching a height of 1.96 meters. A following SU teammate, senior Rakee Cromwell finished in third for the event, at 1.78 meters. Additionally, Petraskie finished in second place for the Triple Jump.
White had an overall solid performance throughout the whole meet. He began his day with a win in the 200-meter dash finishing at 23.26 seconds. White qualified for Finals in the 60-meter dash, where he finished in fifth place with a time of 7.48 seconds. To finish up the day, White was part of the 4×400 foursome with senior Ciaran Fisher, senior Kaleb Waiwada and Petraskie where they beat Moravian by .54 seconds to earn a gold medal.
Fisher performed well for the River Hawks. He finished the 800-meter run in 2:00.58 where he came in fourth place but recorded a new personal best.
For the lady River Hawks, sophomore Sarah Arbogast dominated in multiple events and sophomore Ryleigh Edmonds had a solid win in the pole vault.
Arbogast won the 60-meter dash easily, defeating opponents by .35 seconds with a time of 8.00, which earned Susquehanna 10 points. Next, was the 200-meter dash where she won by nearly a second as five other opponents followed behind her. She finished the event with a time of 27.23.
The sophomore continued her win streak in the field, winning the long jump with a stance of 5.26 meters and the triple jump with 11.13 meters.
“It is all about the energy in the room. Being in positive atmosphere while competing makes it that much easier,” Arbogast said.
Edmonds pulled yet another win in the pole vault. Edmonds recently broke the indoor pole vault record for the school with a vault of 3.21 meters. The previous record was 3.20 meters, which was set by Leanne Hurtack in 2006 and Julie Scales in 2014. For the weekend, Edmonds reached a height of 3.04 meters.
Senior Sarah Rinaldi ended in third place for the high jump with a height of 1.52 meters and a second-place win in the Triple Jump with a height of 10.44meters.
For the 4×400 Relay, the River Hawks raced Arbogast, junior Alexa Pietrini, sophomores Marissa Kleman and Kate Ross. The foursome finished in second place with a time of 4:16.86.
The distance medley relay team of Pietrini, Ross, Kleman and senior Kirsten Hatton came in fourth place with a time of 13:04.21.
“We all had personal bests in each of the legs of the relay.,” Hatton said. “I was so proud of our team as we fought to the very end.”
Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams will be seen next at the AARTFC Indoor Championship at Ithaca College on March 1. The meet starts at 1:00 p.m.
“Our team has undergone some major changes this year with new coaching staff, but it has brought us all closer like family and I can’t wait to get ready for the outdoor season as our team as a whole continuously gets stronger,” Arbogast said.
“As we head into outdoor season, the team is looking to take the next month to become stronger and build up mileage,” Hatton said. “We want to move up to second and hopefully pass Elizabethtown in the team standings.”
