On Saturday, April 18, the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays traveled to the Millersville Invite looking to sharpen their performances as the Landmark Conference Championships drew closer.
The story begins with the throwing team, which continues to demonstrate its strength and consistency in the circle, cage, and on the runway. Junior Joey Walko led the way with an impressive showing in both the hammer and discus, recording marks of 47.59 meters and 43.01 meters to place second in each event.
On the women’s side, sophomore Isabella Cowger built on her standout performance at Bucknell the previous weekend, claiming victories in both the discus and shot put with throws of 47.15 meters and 13.28 meters. Cowger also added a 41.5-meter throw in the hammer, earning a fourth-place finish.
The sprinters also delivered strong performances across the board. Liliana Zimmerman placed tenth in the women’s 100-meter dash with a time of 13.05 seconds. On the men’s side, senior Matthew Lamb and junior Cameron Michaels finished second and third in the 100-meter preliminaries to qualify for the finals, where they repeated those placements with times of 11.14 and 11.24 seconds.
The 200-meter dash featured more standout efforts. Senior Caleigh Bold continued to showcase her speed, running 25.76 seconds to finish second. For the men, first-year Khaliq Poles placed third in 22.82 seconds, further solidifying his standing within the conference.
The 400-meter dash proved to be the highlight of the meet for the Blue Jays. On the women’s side, four athletes placed in the top eight, led by Bold and sophomore Kirsten Navich, who finished first and second in 57.25 and 58.97 seconds. First-year Emma Herman followed with a sixth-place finish in 1:04.08, while sophomore Julia Antonioli placed eighth in 1:05.82. The men mirrored that success, as Poles took second with a personal-best 50.21 and junior Gabe Sczesniak placed fourth in 51.06.
Junior Trevor Albright also turned in a strong performance in the men’s 800-meter run, finishing second with a time of 2:00.05.
The hurdlers and jumpers added to the team’s success with several notable results. First-year Kyler Benedict placed third in the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.05 seconds, while junior Lucas Novak won the 400-meter hurdles in 57.65 seconds. In the women’s long jump, first-year Kyleigh Dietrich and junior Kate Bendall finished first and second, with Dietrich recording a personal best of 5.07 meters. On the men’s side, sophomore Lucas Beaver and junior Chikezie Emmanuel placed second and fourth with jumps of 5.93 meters and 5.85 meters.
Junior Will Inglis also delivered a dominant performance in his first 3,000-meter steeplechase of the season, leading from the start and finishing nearly a minute ahead of the field. Inglis crossed the line in 9:44, moving into second on the Landmark Conference performance list and securing a regional qualifying time.
