Lady Raiders Win PSAC East Challenge On the Strength of 27 Top-Five and 41 Top-Ten Finishes
Jan. 11, 2008
KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The Shippensburg women’s indoor track and field team won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Challenge for the second time in the last three years late Friday night. The Lady Raiders bested the six Eastern Division schools with a total of 195 points, while host-school Kutztown took second place with a total of 156 points.
Shippensburg earned its first team victory of the season on the strength
of 27 top-five and 41 top-ten finishes by the Lady Raiders, who placed
an athlete in 15 of the 17 contested events.
Three Lady Raiders earned top individual finishes while two relay teams
also delivered first-place finishes to give Shippensburg a total of five
for the
evening.
Thriving once again in mid-distance events, sophomore Mary Dell (Boiling Springs/Boiling Springs) earned her third first-place finish in two years of competition at the event by winning the 1-mile run, finishing in 5:12.74. Last year, Dell won the 55-meter and 200-meter dash to help guide Shippensburg to a second-place finish in the Challenge.
Meanwhile, freshman Abby Huber (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley) took home top honors in the 800-meter event with a time of 2:21.57. It is Huber’s second first-place finish through three tournaments this season.
The Lady Raiders finished first through fourth in the event, with freshman Kelly Unger (Springfield/Cardinal O'Hara) taking second place (2:22.48), freshman Jamie McCollum (Duncannon/Susquenita) earning third place (2:26.22) and Dell recording the fourth-place effort.
The final individual champion was freshman Margaret Merlie (Havertown/Archbishop Carroll), who won the shot put with a heave of 11.66. Merlie, along with sophomores Krysten Goetter (Ambler/Hatboro-Horsham) and Jenn Szarzynski (Effort/Pleasant Valley), each totaled top-ten finishes in the weight throw and the shot put.
The distance medley relay team of Huber, freshman Emily Dubs (Dover/Northeastern), McCollum and freshman Kelly Unger (Springfield/Cardinal O'Hara) took first place with a time of 13:06.65, more than four seconds ahead of second-place Bloomsburg.
As expected, the 400-meter relay team dominated the competition once again for another first-place finish. The team of sophomore Shannon Hare (Middletown/Middletown), freshman Erica Hess (Selinsgrove/Selinsgrove), Dell and freshman Laura Henzy (Langhorne/Neshaminy) placed first with a time of 4:02.96. The quartet bested second-place Kutztown by more than 12 seconds, and has finished in the top-ten in all three tournaments this season.
Junior Siobahn Richards (York Haven/York Haven) and sophomore Shannon Hare (Middletown/Middletown) posted strong performances for the Lady Raiders in the short sprint events, as Richards finished second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.45 seconds while Hare took home second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.86 seconds.
The most prolific individual performer was freshman Rebekah Newhart (Muncy/Hughesville), who earned three top-five finishes for the evening. In addition to a fourth-place finish in the high jump (1.55) and a fifth-place finish in the triple jump (34-2), Newhart finished third in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.05 seconds.
Other successful competitors in jump events included senior Casey Drummond (Maple Glen/Upper Dublin) and junior Karen Good (Terre Hill/Garden Spot). Drummond earned second place in the high jump while Good finished fourth in the triple jump with an effort of 34-2.
In hurdle and sprint events, junior Michelle Morcom (Moscow/Western Wayne) finished second in the 55-meter hurdles, while Hess took home second place in the 400-meter dash. Henzy added a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash as well.
In the pentathlon, four Lady Raiders finished in the Top 10, led by junior Ashleigh Helfrick (Greencastle/James Buchanan). Helfrick finished fourth, while fellow junior Kristina Grussenmeyer (Holland/Council Rock South) finished in fifth place. Red-shirt freshman Alexis Briggs (Palmyra/Palmyra) finished seventh, while Kayley Harmon finished eighth.
Shippensburg will return to action on Saturday, January 19 when it travels to Bucknell University to compete in the Bucknell Heptagonal. Competition is set to begin at 6:45 p.m.
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Lady Raider Track and Field -
