Elizabethtown College Men's Track and Field
Saturday, May 1, 2004

Etown Men Win First-Ever MAC Outdoor Championship

GRANTHAM, Pa. --- After winning two consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference indoor championships in 2003 and 2004, the Elizabethtown College men's track & field team, in its fifth season of competition as a varsity squad, captured its first-ever MAC outdoor championship Saturday, narrowly edging out second-place Susquehanna University by just 1.5 points on the final day of the 2004 MAC outdoor championship, hosted by Messsiah College. Etown finished the meet with 167 points, while Susquehanna scored 165.5 points.

Etown's outdoor conference championship was made all the more remarkable by the fact that the Blue Jays did not have a single athlete competing this weekend in any of the four throwing events, as well as by the fact that Etown tallied only three gold medals over the three day championship meet.

On Saturday, Etown senior Dave Berdan (Dingmans Ferry, PA/Delaware Valley) brought his total of silver medals at the MAC Championships to three by placing second in the 1500m in 3:57.34 and finishing second in the 5000m in 15:18.43. On Thursday, Berdan had finished second in the 10,000m in 32:02.63, bringing his point total for the weekend to 24, and bringing his total racing distance over three days to 16,500 meters. Jose Miranda (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Twp) had also medaled in the 10,000m for Etown Thursday, placing third in 32:08.76.

In the finals of the 800m Saturday, Etown wound up with two MAC medals as Greg Wetzel (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks East) struck gold in 1:56.40, an improvement of over two seconds from his trial time Friday, and as Patrick Donovan (South Pasadena, CA/St. Francis) took the silver medal with a final time of 1:56.72, an improvement of over one second from his preliminary time on Friday.

In the finals of the 400m Saturday, Tom Raver (Manchester, MD/North Carroll) earned a silver medal and set a new Etown record with a time of 49.73 seconds, becoming the first Blue Jay ever to crack the 50 second mark in the event. First-year Mike Bauer (Pottsgrove, PA/Pottsgrove) earned a silver medal in the 100m dash Saturday with a time of 11.15 seconds, and he took home a bronze medal in the finals of the 200m with an Etown record time of 22.35 seconds, besting the previous mark by 0.01 of a second.

Sophomore Darren DeAngelis (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) had a breakthrough weekend in the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles for Etown. He won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles Saturday with a finals time of 54.48 seconds, a new Etown record, an improvement of almost two seconds over his preliminary time Friday, and a time just 0.48 second shy of the NCAA Division III Championship provisional qualifying standard. In the 110m hurdles, DeAngelis captured the silver medal with a time of 14.95 seconds, another Etown record and a time just 0.05 second removed from the NCAA provisional qualifying standard.

The Blue Jays captured gold and silver medals in the triple jump Saturday, as senior Pablo Callejas (Quito, Ecuador/Issac Newton) sprang 47' 10-1/4” to win the event and sophomore Jason Patterson (Upper Marlboro, MD/Bowie) traversed 46' 5-3/4” to place second. The distances for both Callejas and Patterson exceeded the NCAA championship provisional qualifying standard in the triple jump.

The Blue Jays' 4x400m relay team of DeAngelis, Donovan, Wetzel and Raver took home a silver medal with a program record time of 3:23.34 Saturday as well.

Etown added a pair of conference medals in finals events Friday to the pair it had picked up Thursday. Bauer took home a silver medal in the long jump with a distance of 22' 7-3/4” Friday. Senior Eric Bennett (Towanda, PA/Towanda) landed a bronze medal in the pole vault with a height of 13' 6”.

Also on Friday, the decathlon was completed after starting on Thursday. Etown first-year Zach Fogel (Boyertown, PA/Oley Valley) set a new program record in the decathlon after scoring 5,188 to place fifth. Teammate Mike Galli (Dunmore, PA/Dunmore) placed sixth with a score of 4,751.

Etown will return to action at the James Madison University Invitational in Harrisonburg, Va. Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9.

at Grantham, Pa.
2004 Middle Atlantic Conference Outdoor Championships
Final Team Scores: 1. Elizabethtown 167; 2. Susquehanna 165.5; 3. Messiah 139; 4. Widener 98; 5. DeSales 87; 6. Moravian 82; 7. Lebanon Valley 27; 8. Albright 25.5; 9. Juniata 20; 10. Delaware Valley 7.
Etown point scorers (top eight):
100m dash: 2. Mike Bauer 11.15 (final) 11.23 (prelim)
200m dash: 3. Mike Bauer 22.35* (final) 22.74 (prelim)
400m dash: 2. Tom Raver 49.73* (final) 50.05 (prelim)
800m: 1. Greg Wetzel 1:56.40 (final) 1:58.68 (prelim); 2. Patrick Donovan 1:56.72 (final) 1:57.91 (prelim); 6. Sean Mulcahy 2:00.55 (final) 1:59.07 (prelim)
1500m: 2. Dave Berdan 3:57.34; 4. Sean Mulcahy 3:59.22; 6. Steve Sanko 4:01.50; 7. Nate Moore 4:01.55
5000m: 2. Dave Berdan 15:18.43; 6. Steve Sanko 15:48.73; 7. Jose Miranda 15:50.84
10,000m: 2. Dave Berdan 32:02.63; 3. Jose Miranda 32:08.76; 4. Steve Sanko 32:11.71; 6. Jason Theobald 33:42.15
110m hurdles: 2. Darren DeAngelis 14.95* (final) 15.17 (prelim)
400m hurdles: 1. Darren DeAngelis 54.48* (final) 56.42 (prelim); 8. Rob Hickox 61.48 (final) 58.47 (prelim)
4x100m relay: 8. Rob Hickox/Tom Raver/Brian Goodwin/Mike Bauer 60.00 (final) 43.52* (prelim) [baton was dropped in final]
4x400m relay: 2. Darren DeAngelis/Patrick Donovan/Greg Wetzel/Tom Raver 3:23.34*
High Jump: 4. Jason Patterson 6'3”; 8. Zach Fogel 6'1”
Pole Vault: 3. Eric Bennett 13'6”
Long Jump: 2. Mike Bauer 22'7-3/4”#
Triple Jump: 1. Pablo Callejas 47'10-1/4”#; 2. Jason Patterson 46'5-3/4”#
Decathlon: 5. Zach Fogel 5188*; 6. Mike Galli 4751

MAC Medalists in bold
* Elizabethtown program record
# Meets NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship provisional qualifying standard