The Elizabethtown College men’s track and field team had a strong showing last weekend at Bison Open & Multi hosted by Bucknell University located in Lewisburg, Pa.
Senior Zach Trama of West Chester, Pa. reaffirmed his position as one of the top 50 student athletes in the 3,000 meter run. Trama took second in the mile run out of 61 other competitors finishing with a personal best of 4:17:49, which is the sixth-fastest time in the programs history. “Individually I am very pleased with how I performed this weekend. I didn’t really have anything to lose in any of my races, so I didn’t feel any pressure,” Trama said.
Three other Blue Jays had personal best times in the mile event as well. Junior Ryan Conway finished with a 4:32.94. Following Conway was sophomore Ian Kulis with a time of 4:41.36 and sophomore Nate Liebsch broke the five-minute mark for the first time with a 4:54.37.
Trama continued the trend he set during the 3,000-meter event with a sixth overall finish in the 1,000m clocking in with a time of 2:38.07. Trama’s time is the third fastest in the program’s history, with junior Sam Brooks securing the fourth fastest time with a 2:40.90 finish placing two spots behind Trama. Kulis, sophomore Michael Twist and Liebsch took the sixth, ninth and tenth best times in program history, respectively.
In the 500-meter event first-year Tom Fitzgerald and senior Bryan Baldwin placed sixth and ninth, respectively. Fitzgerald’s time of 1:10.02 is the fifth fastest for the Blue Jays and Baldwin earned the eighth fastest with a time of 1:11.10. Sophomore Alex Pankiw completed the event with a time of 1:13.96, placing him fourteenth overall.
Other highlights for Etown included sophomore Max Mahan finishing fourth in the 1.90 m jump with a distance of 1.89m (6’2-1/4″). Mahan is currently second in the Landmark Conference for this event. Senior Dan Gresh finished tenth out of 47 in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 8:55.70. Head Coach Joel Hoffsmith said that this was Gresh’s best 3,000-meter race yet. First-year Mitch Schlegel attempted to better his best time of 23.43 in the 200-meter dash on Friday, however, he clocked in just shy of his previous time at 23.45.
“The team performance was very inspiring on both the men’s and women’s sides,” Trama said. “We had a lot of solid performances by a wide variety of people, but there is always room to improve.”
With the Landmark Conference Championships just around the corner, Hoffsmith said, “At this point with additional work we will be ready for the Landmark Championships.” Trama also had feelings about the approaching competition. “The result of the meet will be determined before it begins. It is being played out right now by every decision that every athlete makes in and out of practice,” he said. “We have been doing the right things as a team and by the time the conference meet rolls around I think we will be ready to contend for the title.”
On Saturday, Feb. 7, the Blue Jays will attend the Seamus McElligott Invitational at Haverford College. The event will begin at 11 a.m.
