SELINSGROVE, PA - Thanks to their third consecutive school record-setting performance on Saturday at the Messiah Invitational, the Susquehanna University women’s 400-meter relay team has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, to be held May 23-25 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

While the quartet has guaranteed themselves a spot on the standby list for nationals, the team will almost certainly need to improve on its time of 49.38 seconds to have a reasonable shot of earning one of the 18 spots on the starting blocks at the NCAA championships.

Currently, the Crusaders have the 24th-best time in the 400-meter relay in Division III, according to the Web site Apple Raceberry Jam. Just one school has met the automatic qualifier standard of 47.70 seconds so far this season, as McMurry University ran 47.59 on March 28.

What makes the success of the Crusader 400-meter relay team particularly impressive is the fact that three of its four runners are members of the freshman class at Susquehanna.

Only junior Megan Patrono (West Milford, NJ/West Milford Twp. H.S.), the defending Middle Atlantic Conference champion in both the 100 and 200 meters, had run the event at Susquehanna prior to this season. In fact, she ran the leadoff leg of last year’s 400-meter relay team that broke a seven-year-old school record at the MAC championships by finishing in 50.63 seconds.

Taking advantage of his young, talented recruits, third-year head coach Craig Penney joined Ashley Eyster (Mt. Pleasant Mills, PA/Selinsgrove H.S.), Jen Minnig (Mount Carmel, PA/Mount Carmel H.S.) and Jen Lockman (Cumberland, ME/Greely H.S.) with Patrono to form a unit that will be favored at this year’s MAC championships, which will be held May 2-4 at Susquehanna’s Lopardo Stadium.

Their first record-breaking race came at the Susquehanna Invitational on March 30, when the Crusaders ran 49.55 seconds to break last year’s mark. One week later at the Muhlenberg Invitational, the quartet equaled their 49.55 seconds from the Susquehanna Invitational en route to winning the event. At Messiah last week, the unit of Patrono, Eyster, Minnig and Lockman finished second to Mary Washington College, which ran 49.25 to the Crusaders’ 49.38.

“The chemistry of the group makes them special,” said Penney, who has coached a total of 29 All-Americans and 43 national qualifiers during his 22-year career. “Megan has done a great job of keeping them focused and controlling their adrenaline. They all bring something special and that has shown in steady improvement in performance.”

Each of the freshmen brought a pedigree of success with them to Susquehanna. Eyster was a member of the 400-meter relay team at Selinsgrove which took 14th at last spring’s PIAA championships, and finished sixth in the 100 meters at last year’s District 4 championship meet. Minnig took second in both the 100 and 200 meters at the Schuylkill League championships last season while Lockman placed second in the 55 meters and third in the 200 at the Maine Class B Indoor Championships last winter.

The quartet has also excelled on an individual basis this season. Patrono owns the MAC’s fastest times in both the 100 and 200 meters this season, having run 12.75 in the 100 at the Susquehanna Invitational and 26.45 at Messiah. She also owns the MAC’s third-best long jump of 16 feet, 6 inches which she established on March 16 at Washington & Lee.

Eyster is ranked fifth in the 100 meters following a 12.99 performance at Messiah, while Minnig is sixth in the 100 meters (13.02) and seventh in the 200 meters (27.27). Lockman is ninth in the 100 meters (13.32), eighth in the 200 meters (27.41) and sixth in the 400 meters (1:01.28) among all MAC runners this year.

The team will be back in action on Saturday afternoon in a tri-meet with Mansfield and Albright at Lopardo Stadium.