Elizabethtown College Men's Track and Field
Saturday, March 1, 2003

Etown Men Win First-Ever MAC Track & Field Championship; Blue Jay Women Place Fourth at Indoor Conference Championships

SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- Saturday was an historic day for Elizabethtown College, as the men's track and field team won the 2003 Middle Atlantic Conference indoor championship at Susquehanna University, the first time an Etown track and field team has ever won a conference title. It was a feat made all the more amazing by the fact that the team is in only its fourth year of existence as a varsity program, has no throwers on its roster and just two jumpers who competed. The Elizabethtown women's track & field team, meanwhile, finished fourth out of 10 teams in just its fourth year of existence as well.

The men's team compiled 127 points, 35 points more than second-place Moravian. The women's team totaled 78.5 points, just 5.5 points shy of third-place Messiah.

The Etown men's team dominated the distance events to maximize its point totals there. In the 800m Greg Wetzel (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks East) captured the gold medal in a personal best time of 1:58.32, Sean Mulcahy (Towanda, PA/Towanda) took the silver medal in a personal best of 1:59.39, and Mike Zwatty (Lewisberry, PA/Red Land) took fifth place in 2:00.78 to total 20 points in that event. Etown also scored 20 points in the 1500m as Steve Sanko (Hazleton, PA/Bishop Hafey) took home the gold in 4:00.53, Mulcahy captured another silver in 4:01.24, and Matt Rockwell (Plymouth, NH/Plymouth Regional) placed fifth in 4:07.37. Etown also scored 18 points in the 5000m as Sanko won another gold medal in 15:07.44 (a Susquehanna field house record) and Dustin Scott (Honey Brook, PA/Twin Valley) took the silver medal in 15:11.47.

Also, the Etown men's 4x800m relay team of Nate Moore (Elverson, PA/Twin Valley), Wetzel, Zwatty and Mulcahy won the gold medal in the event in a field house record time of 8:07.03, and distance medley relay team of Chris Williams (Dillsburg, PA/Northern York), Mike Galli (Dunmore, PA/Dunmore), Nick Patterson (Elverson, PA/Twin Valley) and Jose Miranda (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Township) won the gold medal in 10:43.70, to total 20 more Etown points.

Also medalling for Etown was Jason Patterson (Upper Marlboro, MD/Bowie), who won the gold in the high jump with 6'4", a new indoor program record, won the gold in the triple jump with 47'9-3/4", another new program record, and took the bronze in the long jump with 22'7-1/4", yet another program record. Joe Moses (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) took home a bronze medal in the pole vault in 13'6".

Aaron Lyle (West Newton, PA/Yough) scored four points for the Blue Jay men with a fourth place finish in the 200m of 23.41 seconds, just 0.02 shy of his personal best in the indoor 200m. Darren DeAngelis (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) added one point to Etown's total with a sixth-place finish of 51.97 seconds, a new Etown program record. He also ran a personal best in the 55m high hurdles with a preliminary time of 8.37 seconds. Derrick Washington (Montgomery Village, MD/Watkins Mill) scored four points with a fourth place finish in the 55m high hurdles with a final time of 8.07 seconds. His preliminary time was 8.00 seconds. Washington also placed fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 40'9-3/4" to score two more points. Eric Bennett (Towanda, PA/Towanda) scored two points for Etown in the pole vault with a fifth place height of 13'0".

The Etown women were bolstered by a gold medal performance by Jill Brobst (Wilmington, DE/Concord) in the 800m with a time of 2:23.26, and a gold medal performance by Carrie Kerna (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) in the 55m high hurdles. Her time of 8.63 seconds marked the second time she exceeded the NCAA Division III championship provisional qualifying mark of 8.65 this season. Kerna also placed in a tie for sixth in the high jump with a mark of 4'10" to score an additional half point for Etown.

In the 5000m, Melissa St. Clair (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) won the gold medal in 18:38.20, and Bri Lambert (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) took the bronze medal for Etown in 19:26.98.

The Etown women also had two relay teams win gold medals. The 4x400m team of Betsy Burroughs (Mt. Airy, MD/Linganore), Sarah Rever (Glen Rock, PA/Christian School of York), Kristin Lander (Accident, MD/Northern Garrett) and Kerna narrowly edged out the second place team of Messiah to win the gold medal by a margin of 0.30 second. Etown's time was 4:18.90. The distance medley relay team of St. Clair, Rever, Kim Whalen (Wilmington, DE/Ursuline Academy) and Lambert won the gold medal in 12:45.87.

Burroughs scored four more points for Etown with a fourth place finish in the 400m of 1:01.29. Jessica Popp (Lewisburg, PA/Lewisburg) placed fifth in the pole vault with a height of 9'6" to score two points and tie her personal and program indoor best. Casey Moser (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy) totaled six points for the Blue Jays by placing fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 34'4" and fifth in the long jump with a height of 16'3-1/4", a new personal and program indoor record. Crystal Tracy (Northampton, PA/Northampton) also set a new personal and program indoor record in the shot put with a distance of 32'1-1/2". She placed fourth in the event to score four points for the Blue Jays.

Elizabethtown will return to action in a last-chance meet at Baldwin-Wallace (O.) Friday, March 7, where Sanko will run in the 5000m and Kerna will compete in the 55m high hurdles in an effort to solidify their chances of making the final cut to compete in the NCAA Division III indoor championships in those events.