SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) — The Susquehanna University men’s track and field team is undefeated in the four outdoor meets which have had team scoring this spring, but will it be able to make up a 93-point deficit to Widener from the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Championship and capture its third-straight conference outdoor title this Friday and Saturday at Messiah College?
That is the key question facing 21st-year head coach Jim Taylor and his Crusaders, which will join the Crusader women’s track and field team of first-year head coach Karen Brandt along with teams from nine other MAC schools at the two-day championship event. Competition is set to begin at approximately 10:30 a.m. at Messiah in Grantham.
The Crusader women are hoping to finish second and equal their best placement at the MAC outdoor event for a third-straight season. Moravian has won six-straight MAC outdoor team championships on the women’s side and is heavily favored to make it seven in a row.
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The Crusader men finished 93 points behind champion Widener and 19 down to second-place Moravian at this winter’s MAC Indoor Championships. They won the outdoor title last spring by a slim 12 points over Widener and 20.5 points over Moravian — 163 to 151 and 142.5 respectively.
Making up ground outdoors is nothing new for the Crusader men, who have won 10 outdoor MAC titles in Taylor’s first 20 seasons — including the last two and four of the past five — but have never won the conference indoor championship. With one of his biggest and most talented rosters in years, Taylor believes an MAC “threepeat” isn’t out of the question although the 93-point spread indoors does concern him.
“We’re going to have to do the best job we’ve in a long time in order to overcome the deficit we put ourselves in during the indoor season. Ninety-three points is a lot of points and that leaves us less room for error then before,” said Taylor, who has coached 31 NCAA Division III All-Americans and six national champions in addition to all his team honors.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us. I think we will narrow the gap, but the question remains if we have enough guns to win it.”
Taylor has three defending conference outdoor champions and two NCAA Division III national qualifiers among the 13 letterwinners who return from last season’s championship team.
Leading that group is junior Matt Fenstermacher (Watsontown/Warrior Run H.S.), who is the defending MAC outdoor champion in the triple jump (45-5 ¾), finishing third last season in both the long jump (21-3 ¼) and 100-meter dash (11.17), and fifth in the 200 (22.74). He also anchored the fourth-place 400-meter relay (:43.27).
Fenstermacher provisionally qualified for the 1999 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship in the triple jump with his winning leap of 46-3 last Saturday at the Dickinson Invitational. He has also lost just once in the long jump during the outdoor season, winning the prestigious Colonial Relays in the event with a new school record jump of 23-3 1/2. He also has team best times during the outdoor season in the 100 (:10.95) and 200 (:22.49), and has anchored the 400-meter relay team. Fenstermacher was also fifth in the high jump last Saturday at Dickinson (6-2).
Fenstermacher joined current teammates in senior Nick Quaglia (Ashley/Bishop Hoban H.S.), junior Jerry Evangelista (Sheppton/Hazleton Area H.S.) and sophomore John Green (Reading/Governor Mifflin H.S.) on last season’s 400-meter relay team. They could team together again this season, although Taylor hasn’t decided on that team yet. Freshman Jason Ward (Avondale/Avon Grove H.S.) will most likely run for either Evangelista or Green and is a contender in the 400-meter dash with the team’s best time outdoors this season at :50.98.
Green is the defending outdoor champ in the long jump, winning it with a leap of 21-8. He has consistently placed in the top six in both the long and triple this season.
A steady MAC placewinning sprinter throughout his career, Quaglia was fourth last spring at MACs in the 100-meter dash (:11.31). He too has made the finals in the event at most of the outdoor meets this season.
Evangelista just missed the MAC finals in the 100 the last two seasons, but may have gotten a boost recently as he made the finals at Gettysburg’s Mason-Dixon Invitational, placing sixth (:11.31).
Sophomore Garrett Thompson (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin East H.S.) was also expected to score big points at MACs, but has been scratched by a pulled hamstring. Thompson transferred to Susquehanna after being a sprinter and men’s basketball player at Division I Delaware.
Joining Fenstermacher and Green to lead a strong jumping contingent are freshman Corey Green (Roselle, N.J./Roselle Catholic H.S.) and junior Adam Ressler (Robesonia/Conrad Weiser H.S.), who is a returning NCAA Division III national qualifier in the high jump. Ressler tied the school record with his qualifying jump of 6-9 last season, and won the MAC indoor high jump at 6-2. He was fourth at MACs outdoors last season (6-3 ½). Green has gotten the better of him of late and has the team’s top outdoor leap at 6-6.
Freshman Angel Alvarado (Selinsgrove/ Selinsgrove H.S.) should also provide additional jumping strength in both the long and triple, placing in both most of the outdoor season.
Senior Matt Menold (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway H.S.) rounds out the returning MAC champs as he won the javelin for a second-straight year with a throw of 195-4 last year. Menold automatically qualified for nationals and broke his own modern-era school record with a winning throw of 204-6 last Saturday at Dickinson.
Fellow senior Frank Arenella (Bloomsburg/Central Columbia H.S.) was sixth in the javelin at MACs last spring and has also provisionally qualified for nationals in the event this season, placing second at the Susquehanna Invitational with a throw of 188-8. He won the MAC outdoor shot put title as a sophomore with a throw of 45-2.
Freshman, Matt Shaffer (Brookville/Brookville H.S.) is the team shot put leader this season as he broke the school’s freshman record in the shot at 44-2 while placing third at MACs indoors. He’s thrown 44-9 3/4 outdoors this spring.
Elsewhere on the field, senior Adam Saylor (Waverly, N.Y./Waverly H.S.) was second in the pole vault at MACs indoors, (13-6) and won last Saturday at Dickinson while going a career best 14-0. Saylor was fourth outdoors last season (13-6).
Senior Charles Barley (Temple Hills, Md./Suitland H.S.) is also a past MAC outdoor champion, winning the 110-meter high hurdles as both a freshman (:15.51) and sophomore (:15.19) before finishing third last season (:15.60). He appeared to be on pace to contend again this year, but has now been bothered by a sore ankle which could hinder him this weekend.
Freshman teammate Trever Fike (Millerstown/Greenwood H.S.) has just returned to competition after being out with a similar ankle injury. He was second in the 55-meter hurdles (:08.15) at the MAC indoor meet and second in the 110’s last Saturday at Dickinson (:15.07).
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Brandt’s team might be hard pressed to threaten the school record second-place finish and 125 points it tallied at MACs outdoors last season under Taylor, particularly since junior sprinter Jen Becker (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury H.S.) is out with stress fractures in both legs. Becker won the MAC indoor championship this season in the 400-meter dash (1:03.54) and ran legs on both the team’s relays.
Brandt’s team still has plently of scoring potential with sophomore defending national javelin champion Janee Shaner (Hughesville/Hughesville H.S.). She also won MACs with a throw of 137-0 and has already provisonally qualified for nationals this season with a throw of 128-2.
Junior Melissa Ruozzi (Braintree, Mass./Braintree H.S.) also can score in the throwing events as she was fourth at MACs in the discus last spring with a throw of 107-4. She was second in the event last week at Dickinson with a throw of 108-3.
Junior Karyn Kern (Brodheadsville/Pleasant Valley H.S.) was the big story at MACs last spring as she repeated as champion in the triple jump (34-9 1/2), and also took the long jump (16-1 1/2). She hasn’t hit her best this season, but was still second in both last week at Dickinson with jumps of 34-1 and 16-5 1/2 respectively.
Senior tri-captain Kim Aurand (Lewistown/Lewistown H.S.) also was second in the triple (34-0) and fourth in the long jump (15-5) outdoors last spring. She also runs on the relays teams.
Fellow senior Amanda Baker (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin East H.S.) was also second in the high jump outdoors last year at 5-1, and fourth indoors at 5-0.
Senior tri-captain Tonya Wolfe (Turbotville/Warrior Run H.S.) is running the best of her career, recently breaking the school record in the 800-meter run at Gettysburg (2:24.55) and setting a new personal best last week at Dickinson in the 400 (1:00.53) while finishing second. She ran the anchor leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay indoors and will run legs in both relays this weekend. She also was third indoors in the 400-meter dash (1:04.53).
Sophomore Emily Dugan (Athens/Athens H.S.) also runs on the relays and was second in the 55-meter hurdles (:09.59) indoors, finishing fourth in 400-meter hurdles (1:07.97) and fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (:16.92) outdoors last spring. She has consistently made the finals in both this spring.
In the distance events, junior tri-captain Sarah Costello (Palmyra/Palmyra H.S.) is the leader. She was third in the 10,000-meter run at MACs last spring and has broken her own school record in the event this spring (41:21.53), also establishing a new school record in the 5,000 (19:45.40) this season.
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