rom April 25-27, the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays track and field teams competed in the 119th annual Penn Relays held at Franklin Field. Etown was one of the many Division III schools playing against Division I schools. In order to compete in an individual event, coaches send in a request/application for each person for their event. Penn officials then review the applications and decide how big they want the field to be; an athlete is then accepted or denied and is allowed to appeal for denial. For the relay teams, all schools are allowed to enter a 4×400 relay team and a 4×100 relay team.
While at the Relays, two new school records were set. Sophomore Casey Meier broke the school record in the women’s javelin throw with a distance of 41.1m. Meier placed 14th overall out of 33 total competitors. Junior Traci Tempone also set the school record in the women’s 5,000-meter run, beating her personal best time by almost two seconds with a time of 17:06:88. Tempone ranked 16th out of 31 runners. Meier and Tempone are both number one in their events in the MAC.
Also competing at the Penn Relays was the women’s 4×400 meter relay team consisting of first-year Rachel Carr, senior Katy Fogel, first-year Alyssa Aichele and senior Ashley Lockwood. The team set a new season best with a time of 4:03:01. Their time is the eighth fastest relay time in program history. The Blue Jays’ relay team placed fourth out of ten teams. Following the relay team on Thursday night were first-year Matthew Shenk and junior Stephen Welsh competing in the 5,000-meter run. Shenk finished 22nd with a time of 15:22:32 and Welsh finished 24th with a time of 16:18:91.
On day two of the Penn Relays, senior Jenna Niedermayer participated in the triple jump, contending against well-known Division I schools such as Temple University and Penn College. Niedermayer placed 20th out of 28 with a personal best of 11.29m. Niedermayer said, “Despite the amazing competition around me, it was once more a track meet like every other and another shot at getting a great jump.” Also competing on day two was the Blue Jay men’s 4×400-meter relay team consisting of junior Brian Layng, senior Brad Risser, first-year Sam Brooks and senior Luke Rotenberger. Although the team finished with a season-best time of 3:25:20, they placed seventh out of nine teams.
The Blue Jays had a busy weekend due to competing in the Penn Relays and also in the Paul Kaiser Classic on Sunday. Junior thrower Lucas Dayhoff finished in the top five in the shot put and the hammer throw. Dayhoff threw 14.69m in the shot put, taking fourth place. His distance was just three inches shy of his school record. Dayhoff also placed fifth out of 21 throwers in the hammer with a distance of 48.18m. Most of the team was at the Paul Kaiser Classic in Shippensburg, but senior Cameron Aregood was the lone male to compete in the final day at the Penn Relays. Aregood placed seventh in the men’s javelin throw with a throw of 61.36m. Aregood was one of nine people to throw over 200 feet out of 25 total participants.
Junior vaulter Kevin Brady took fifth in the pole vault with a top vault of 4.45m. Brady also competed in the 4×100-meter relay team with partners Layng, first-year Graeme Kennedy and anchor Rotenberger. The team ran a season best of 44.63. Rotenberger also ran in the 400-hurdles with a time of 57.46 to place seventh out of 26 people. First-year Adam Harriger was tenth in the 3000-meter run with a time of 9:36.77. Three Blue Jays ran personal bests in the 800. Senior Jake Blanton broke the 2:00 barrier for the first time, running 1:58.91. First-year Justin Fortney ran with a time of 2:01.87 to give himself a new personal record. Harriger finished with a time of 2:03.20, also making this a personal best time. Sophomore Nathaniel Flickinger is on the school’s top ten list in the discus throw. He now holds the seventh best throw in the event at 33.77m.
The track and field team will compete in the MAC Conference Championships, which will begin Thursday, May 2 and run through Saturday, May 4 at Lebanon Valley College.
