Race recap

Cross Country Tackled Their Home Course at the Delaware Invitational

leahgood

The Delaware club cross country team traveled up the road to White Clay Creek State Park to race on their home course. Our women placed 5th overall and the men placed 3rd despite some tough competition.

The women started the day with their 5th place finish in the 6k. Sophomore Camila Montes displayed her talent finishing first for the Delaware women with a time of 27:26. Shortly behind was fellow sophomore Jade Barrett finishing within the Delaware top seven again with a time of 27:41. Freshman Ariana DeNicola (28:18) and Kate Kershaw (28:37) worked together to take the 3rd and 4th Delaware spots. Finishing close behind were juniors Margaret Fogarty (28:52) and Leah Goodman (28:59) finishing just under 29 minutes. Exactly a minute later was junior Hannah Pash (29:59) breaking 30 minutes and completing the Delaware top seven. Following close behind was senior Natalie Pinto with a time of 30:01.

The men followed with a third-place finish in the 8k. Sophomore Evan Diefenbeck was in a familiar position leading the Delaware pack with a respectable time of 28:11. Fellow sophomore Matthew Kwiatkowski broke the 30-minute barrier finishing close behind at 28:21 and taking the second scoring spot. Sophomore Dave Kelly (30:15) led a Delaware pack with senior Daniel Giron (30:29) and junior Brett Balthis (30:44) working together to claim the next three spots. Sophomore Evan Pawlik (30:59) earned the sixth Delaware spot, and graduate student Anthony Stohr rounded out the top seven with a time of 31:11.

After racing at hilly White Clay, Delaware looks forward to a flatter Lehigh course for NIRCA Regionals on October 21st.

Full results can be found here.

Diefenbeck about to cross the finish line.
Barrett attacking the hills.

Blue Hens Impress Competition Despite a Late Start to the Season

leahgood

Although the Delaware club cross country team had a later than anticipated start to the season, they competed in the DC Invitational on Saturday, September 30th. The team returned to DC for the second consecutive year but tackled a new hilly course at Lake Accotink Park in Springfield VA. This NIRCA sanctioned race was hosted by George Washington University.

The weather was clear and the women’s 6k led the meet off at 10 am. Freshman Gabriella Maletta continued to lead the Delaware women placing 13th overall with a time of 26:09. Making her cross country debut and finishing second for the team was junior Delaney Oeth coming in at 26:11 and placing 14th overall. Setting up a good start to their sophomore seasons were Jade Barrett (26:14), and Hannah Heredia (26:15) placing 15th and 16th respectively. Freshman Ariana DeNicola (26:42) finished her first collegiate race claiming the 5th spot on the team and 21st overall. Rounding out the Delaware top seven were graduate student Robin Collura (27:19) and freshman Kate Kershaw (27:27) both making their Delaware debuts.

The men’s 8k kicked off shortly behind and they pulled away with a clear team victory. Although the race distance was a bit short, sophomores Brady Sheaffer and Evan Diefenbeck worked together to come in first and second with a standout time of 26:02.3 and 26:02.5 respectively. Graduate student John Papadopoulos’s hard work showed with his third-place team finish and taking the fifth overall spot coming in at 26:43. Fellow grad student Chris Calandra (27:26) and sophomore Michael Toy (27:56) continued Delaware’s success placing within the top ten spots. Our scoring group was capped off by junior Brett Balthis (28:16) and grad student Anthony Stohr (29:06.98) to wrap up the Delaware top seven for the men’s ~8k.

Delaware will be preparing to compete on their home turf at the Delaware Invitational, on Friday, October 13th!

Full meet results can be found here.

Sheaffer and Diefenbeck working the final hill.
DeNicola racing hard
All our wonderful athletes who competed

UDXCTF Season Debut at the 47th Gary P. Lister Bottle & Cork 5k.

leahgood

The start of the fall semester means the beginning of a new season for the Club XCTF team. Both cross-country runners and sprinters tackled the heat this Saturday, September 9th, at the annual Bottle & Cork 5k road race. Despite just beginning their season, the team exceeded expectations with many notable performances.

The top ten overall spots included six current Delaware runners, two graduate students, and one alumnus. Sophomore Brady Sheaffer finished first with a respectable time of 16:18.0. Close behind was sophomore Alejandro Lobo coming in at 16:28.6. Following the two sophomores was Junior Brett Balthis (17:17.5), and graduate student Chris Calandra (17:28.2) to round out the top five. Sophomore Jack Pelczar (17:58.3), senior Daniel Giron (18:12.2), and graduate student Anthony Stohr (18:13.7) showed their talent with 6th, 7th, and 8th place finishes. Senior Matt Scarpelli secured the 10th overall spot with a time of 18:20.9.

Current Sophmore Evan Diefenbeck tackled the 10-miler instead this weekend at Dewey and finished 1st overall in 57:02.2. Additionally the team cheered for our volunteer coach Mark Keese to finish his 10-miler as well in 1:35.14.4.

Moving on to the women’s results, UDXCTF competed hard in Dewey this Saturday with various standout performances. Freshman Gabriella Maletta dominated with a women’s first-place overall finish of 21:48.5. Following close behind was freshman teammate Carly Curnutt finishing second with a time of 21:56.2. Graduate student Robin Collura (22:05.9), sophomore Jade Barrett (22:07.2), and junior Delaney Oeth (22:45.6) took 3rd, 4th, and 5th place respectively.

An honorable mention to all runners who placed within their age groups, the freshmen for completing their first collegiate race, as well as multiple sprinters attacking this 5k.

The cross country team will attend their official season opener on September 16th at the Highlander Invite.

Full meet results can be found here.

Lobo finishing right behind Sheaffer.
Maletta on the final stretch of her race.
Oeth smiling her way to the finish line.
Sophmores Sobocinski, and Trageser working together.

Greenstein Headlines a Day Filled with New Personal Bests for Delaware

rlaz

The Delaware Club Track & Field team returned to Salisbury University for the second time this season for the penultimate meet of the season. Just like the Lloyd Sigler Spring meet, the Eastern Shore Challenge contained fierce wind gusts that limited the runners. But once again, the Blue Hens didn’t let the weather damper their competitive spirits.

The meet started out fast in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with multiple new personal bests and a clean sweep of the field. Freshman Kaitlyn Burke majorly improved upon her last steeplechase time by 40 seconds, winning the race in 13:24.87. This improvement also allowed her to jump her teammate, Jenna Mlecko, for 5th place in the club’s history. Mlecko shouldn’t be too dejected however, because her 13:36.08 narrowly improved upon her personal best time from almost exactly a year ago. Maggie Huizinga took the third and final podium spot for the race, finishing in 16:05.01. The 4×100-meter squad of Grace Wertheimer, Sam Radinsky, Rilee McMahan, Lianna Greenstein also improved upon their season best time. Their 57.67-second race landed them in third place for the meet, and also moved the group up to 6th all-time on the performance list.

The first action from Delaware’s male runners came in the 1500-meter race. Alex Horgan took yet another victory, leading the field in 4:04.26. Michael Anderson (4:14.53), Brady Sheaffer (4:18.53), and Aravind Arunachalam (4:18.78) all set new bests in the race, Anderson and Scheaffer also added five more points to the team total by placing in 5th and 8th respectively. On the women’s side, two freshmen placed in the top-15 in their first running of the 1500. Burke (5:44.33) placed 11th in her 1500-meter debut, while Hannah Heredia (5:46.65) placed 14th in hers.

Grace Wertheimer added 12 more points in the two hurdle events. The freshman placed 5th in the 100-meter hurdles, and set a new collegiate best of 1:23.56 in the 400-meter hurdles to place 2nd. Fellow freshman and 4×100-meter relay-mate Rilee McMahan also scored in both of her individual events. McMahan placed 7th in the 100-meter dash at 14.46 seconds, and 8th in the 200-meter dash at 30.64 seconds. Junior Sam Radinsky (15.09) also managed points in the women’s 100, placing 8th. DJ Seals was the third and final freshman to score in the short sprint events. Seals tied for 7th place in the 100-meter, scoring 1.5 points for his 11.89-second effort.

Alyssa Blocker made her season debut on the track in the 800-meter race. She just missed out on scoring by placing 9th, running 2:42.49. The men had three scorers in the 800 for a total of 9 points. Anderson placed third at 2:03.89 for his second placement of the day. Both Evan and Josh Pawlik finished in the 2:11 mark, with Evan edging Josh out by a tenth of a second to place 7th, landing his brother at 8th.

Due to an incoming thunderstorm, the men’s 5k was the final event of the day, and the best was saved for last. Despite the heaviest winds yet, two Blue Hens put up massive performances to set new all-time personal bests. Brady Sheaffer ran 16:44.26 in his first 5,000 of the season, and senior Chris Calandra smashed a multi-year long goal of breaking 17 by finishing right behind Sheaffer at 16:44.98.

All three women who competed in the field events scored, as well as either setting or tying their personal bests. Huizinga once again placed third, this time, matching her personal best jump of 1.45-meters in the high jump. Freshman Maggie Morris improved upon her club-best mark in the shot put, placing 7th on a 9.42-meter throw. Lianna Greenstein had two massive performances in the horizontal jumping events. In the triple jump, she improved upon her all-time best by .8-meters, which resulted in a win in the event. In the long jump, she only placed 5th, but her 5.08-meter jump smashed her previous best. This gave her the top spot in the club’s history, breaking Catherine Dolan’s nine-year-old record. Greenstein is now the only woman in the club’s history to clear both five meters in the long jump and ten meters in the triple jump. No other woman has cleared either of those marks, and it isn’t even close.

Overall, the men placed 6th with 25.5 points, while the women placed 4th with 68.

The club looks forward to their final meet of the season, the Delaware Invitational, which will be held at their home track on April 28th.

Full meet results can be found here.

Sheaffer on his way to a new 5k PR

Morris setting up her throw

Horgan leading the field in the 1500

Evan Pawlik on the final stretch of the 800

Blue Hens Drop a Flurry of Big Performances in Their Biggest Meet of the Season

rlaz

Delaware’s club track & field team faced its toughest competition of the season at the TCNJ Invitational in the week following their spring break. Whether it was this increased competition, the fact that some of these athletes haven’t competed in over a month, or some other external factor, the club churned out a bunch of season best performances. It was Delaware’s first meet at The College of New Jersey since 2019, and they made it count.

Chris Calandra and Jack Pelczar started off a big day for the Blue Hens on the track with a pair of personal bests in the 5k. Calandra lowered his best to 17:06.29, and thanks to the pacing of his high school teammate, Aravind Arunachalam, Pelczar smashed his old personal best time by 60 seconds to get it to 17:17.44. In the men’s 1500-meter race, four Blue Hen’s reached the 4:20 mark to place in the top-30. Sasha Latina (4:20.73) and Arunachalam (4:20.94) finished together at 28th and 29th, while freshman Brady Sheaffer (4:19.61) broke 4:20 for the first time to land in 26th place. Senior Alex Horgan not only led Delaware in the 1500, but led the entire field in 3:58.37 for his 5th straight individual victory. Freshman CJ Williams led the Blue Hens in the women’s 1500-meter race in 24th place, where her first ever 1500 was good for 5:40.42.

On the sprinting side of things, the women’s 4x100m squad of Sam Radinsky, Gianna Dowling, Rilee McMahan, and Eli Manning ran a top tier relay time in the club’s history. Their 55.99-second race was the third fastest 4x100m relay in club history, it was also good for 9th overall at the meet. Radinsky and McMahan were also two of four Blue Hens to finish in the top 25 in the 100-meter dash. Mcmahon (14.49) managed a 23rd place finish, while Radinsky (14.78) sneaked in at 25th. Freshmen DJ Seals and Kurt Krummenacker were the two men who also fit the top-25 description. Seals (11.72) edged out Krummenacker (11.74) at the line to get the distinction of coming in 22nd compared to 23rd. Seals also knocked off Ryan McDonough’s time from 2013 to tie Brandon Lichtenstein in 9th place on the all-time performance list.

The long-sprints featured a few notable performances from Delaware. CJ Williams (1:08.10) and Eli Manning (1:08.26) finished within a quarter of a second of each other in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 18th and 22nd respectively. Williams’ first collegiate outdoor 400 was good enough to land her at 7th on the all-time outdoor performance list. The 800-meter race featured a top-10 finish from sophomore Micheal Anderson, his 2:00.33 landed him at 8th overall for the meet. Sasha Latina broke the 2:10 barrier once again, his 2:09.56 was good enough to win his heat of the 800 by over two seconds. In the third addition of Delaware’s three-team battles in the men’s 4x400m relay, the win went to the squad of Anderson, Evan Pawlik, Dan Giron, and Jack Pelczar, who had the fastest time of the series, finishing in 3:48.70.

The field may have started off first, but we’re finishing off with them for last. Gianna Dowling found her way onto the performance list for a second and third time during the meet for the high jump and long jump. Her 4.22-meter long jump was good for 7th all-time and 22nd in the meet, and her 1.37-meter high jump got her to 4th all-time for Delaware and 9th place in the meet. Maggie Morris also landed herself on the all-time performance list, but did so in high fashion. Her 9.08-meter throw of the shot put was not only a collegiate best, but also the furthest throw in Delaware’s club track and field history.

Delaware now has to wait two weeks for a return to Salisbury University for the Eastern Shore Challenge on April 22nd.

Full meet results can be found here.

Arunachalam leading Pelczar to a new PR in the 5k

Latina winning his 800-meter race

Horgan celebrating his 1500-meter win

The Pawlik twins facing off in the 400 (Evan left, Josh right)