Despite it being their winter break, the Delaware club track team was still ready to compete at Susquehanna University at the River Hawk Invitational. Only a mere six athletes attended the meet, but that didn’t stop them from putting out their best efforts.
Freshman Maggie Huizinga was the lone woman, sprinter, and jumper who attended this mid-January competition. She started off the day in high jump, boasting a 5th place finish on a 1.42m jump, which improved upon her season opener. She followed that up with a 1:21.66 400-meter dash, which was good for 11th place in the meet and 9th place on the all-time indoor performance list.
The men had a few more athletes across three different races. In the mile run, freshman Brenden Debrosse led the Blue Hens in his first collegiate track race, finishing in 20th place with a time of 5:16.81. He was followed by Matt Bieker (5:51.01) and Jacob Letnaunchyn (6:21.01), who came in 28th and 29th place respectively. Junior Ryan Lazev placed 13th in the 800-meter race, finishing in a time of 2:11.39, which improved upon his season opening time from a month ago. Letnaunchyn was the only Blue Hen on the men’s side to run multiple events, succeeding the mile in the 800-meter with a time of 2:47.55. Jack Pelczar wrapped up the day in the 3,000-meter. The freshman ran a new personal best time of 10:17.42, which landed him in 11th place.
Delaware will travel to Penn State University on February 11th for their final winter track & field meet of the season.
The Delaware club track team made their way to nearby Franklin & Marshall College for the Diplomat Open to start the 2022-23 winter track season. Despite the first meet of the season always being tough, many Blue Hens put in work to find their way to the all-time indoor performance list as well as other good performances.
The jumpers started the meet early with their events and a big chunk of the newly acquired performance list spots. Freshman Lianna Greenstein started her college career with a bang, first securing 13th place in the long jump with a jump of 4.37m, which gave her the second longest indoor jump of all time, and followed that with a 10.06m jump in triple jump, resulting in a third place overall finish and passing Jenay Valentine’s mark of 9.44m for the furthest indoor triple jump in club history. Maggie Huizinga also managed a top 10 finish with a 1.40m leap in the high jump, which landed her second all-time for the club.
The sprinters finally started their season, getting to compete for the first time this season. Freshman Gracy Back matched her fellow freshman teammate with two performance list inclusions of her own. Back started her collegiate career with a 5th place finish in the 60m hurdles at 9.85, which passed Kayleigh Miedreich for best all-time, and a 17th place finish in the 60m in 8.56 to get the third spot on the all-time list. Rilee McMahan followed close behind in the 60m in her first ever race to get 8.62 and fifth all-time for Delaware. On the men’s side, freshman Kurt Krummenacker (24.41) managed a 15th place finish in the 200, in front of his teammates Stanley Louius (25.43) and Shane Isacson (25.63).
The distance runners didn’t have their full squad due to the recently completed cross country season, but that didn’t affect their ability to bring their best efforts. Senior Sasha Latina kicked off the meet in the 5k, and finished 12th place in 17:12.89. Michael Anderson wasted no time in his 800m race, going out very hard to get himself to fourth place finish (2:00.74). Freshman Josh Pawlik put up two top 15 finishes in his college debut, getting an 11th place finish (2:09.05) in the 800 and a 13th place finish (56.72) in the 400. The men managed three top 15 finishes in the mile run, with Matthew Kwiatkowski (4:41.83) leading in 7th place, followed by Alejandro Lobo (4:49.19) in 10th and Dan Giron (4:58.02) in 14th.
The women also had themselves a day in the distance events. Freshman Kaitlyn Burke highlighted these performances with two top 10 finishes across her two events. Burke’s 10th place time of 2:42.41 ties her with Emily Hansell for 8th all time in the indoor 800m, and her 6:17.81 mile slotted her at 4th in the entire field. Burke was one of three Blue Hens to crack the top 10 in the mile, she was followed by sophomore Lauren Pollock (6:26.12) in 8th and junior Natalie Pinto (6:36.21) in 10th.
Delaware looks to continue their winter season in a month on January 14th for the River Hawk Invite at Susquehanna University.
The Delaware Cross Country team finished up the season in Richmond, Virginia at the NIRCA Cross Country National Championships. Facing off against universities from across the country, the Delaware runners gave it all they had in gritty races all across the board. The fierce competition and slightly elongated course gave the squad a run to remember in the season finale.
Starting off the set of championship races were the women, who finished just inside the top 20 in 19th place as a team. It marks the fifth straight time the women finished in the top 20 at Nationals. The Blue Hens were led by freshmen Jade Barrett and Kaitlyn Burke. Barrett finished first for the Blue Hens in 82nd place with a time of 25:58, followed by Burke, who finished 110th at 26:38. Junior Jenna Mlecko followed, finishing in 27:03 in her final cross country race of her career, as the distance captain is graduating early this year. The duo of CJ Williams (27:33) and Natalie Pinto (27:40) continued to work off each other, finishing within two spots of each other to round out the top five. Freshman Hannah Heredia (28:06) took the sixth spot for Delaware and senior Madeleine Dorley (30:11) finished seventh in her last ever race for the school.
The men followed with a tough 29th place team finish. Alex Horgan repeated as an All-American, earning a second-team spot in 23rd place with a time of 26:40. Despite coming off of a foot injury, freshman Evan Diefenbeck finished second for the Blue Hens, coming in at 29:27 to finish in 164th place. Seniors Sasha Latina (29:56) and Chris Calandra (30:58) took the next two spots, ending their cross country careers for Delaware with third and fourth place finishes for the team. Freshman Michael Toy made his top seven debut by also finishing the race in 30:58, followed closely behind by Dan Giron (31:18). Only six members crossed the finish line as Matthew Kwiatkowski was unable to complete the race.
In the class races, six Blue Hens ran their final XC race wearing the blue and gold. Maddy Ciskowski ran one of her best races of the season in her final race of her career, leading Delaware with a time of 28:52. Seniors Kayla Johnson and Kelsie Hansell also finished out their time with Delaware, with Hansell showing immense perseverance by finishing her last ever race fighting through heavy sickness. Team President John Papadopoulos led the squad in the men’s upperclassman race, going out fast and finishing with a time of 32:38. Seniors Matt Bieker and John Salsini-Tobias also finished out their cross country careers with times of 37:35 and 43:28 respectively.
After a long delay and an even longer day, the underclassmen concluded the afternoon with their races. Three girls finished their races separated by less than 35 seconds at the top of the women’s underclassman race. Freshman Camila Montes (28:55) led the pack in 38th place, followed close behind by Lauren Pollock (29:24) and Emma Szydlow (29:28), who finished back-to-back. On the men’s side, the top three underclassman finishers for Delaware were all separated by a minute. Leading the charge was Evan Pawlik (31:17) and Caden MacHenry (31:25), and then Sean Bernardo at 32:16.
With the cross country season ending, Delaware shifts their focus to winter track. The Blue Hens are set to make their season debut on the track at Franklin & Marshall College on December 9th at the Diplomat Open.
The ten seniors who ran their last ever cross country race for DelawareJosh Pawlik leading a pack of runnersAlex Horgan in a battle on his way to an All-American caliber raceKayla Johnson turning the corner as she reaches the final mileMatt Bieker in a pack of runners during his final XC raceFreshman Emma Szydlow finishing her final XC race of her first season
Delaware club cross country kicked off the championship season at the NIRCA Cross Country Mid-Atlantic Regional at Lehigh University. The runner-friendly course set the stage for the Delaware athletes to show what they could do.
The women kicked off the morning with an impressive 6th place team finish. Out of the top seven girls, six of them set new personal bests. Freshman Jade Barrett led Delaware once again, this time setting a new personal record by over a minute at 24:45, as well as finishing in the top 25. Junior Jenna Mlecko also set a new personal record right behind her, getting below 25 minutes for the first time, crossing the line at 24:59. The third and fourth Delaware spots went to freshmen Kaitlyn Burke and Hannah Heredia, who each set personal bests at 25:46.4 and 25:58.3 respectively. Freshman CJ Williams finished up the scoring five with a massive minute and a half improvement on her best time, coming in at 26:02. Finishing right behind her at 26:04 with a minute improvement on her best time was junior Natalie Pinto, and rounding out the top seven was senior Madeleine Dorley, who finished in 27:02.9.
Due to a results issue, it is unknown what the exact position the men placed, but it is known that they finished well enough to qualify for Nationals. The only thing known for sure about the men’s race is that senior Alex Horgan put out a dominant performance, winning the race with a time of 25:25, which missed his all-time club record by only two seconds. Despite not putting in their best performances, freshmen Matthew Kwiatkowski and Alejandro Lobo still put up impressive performances, coming in at 27:01 and 28:00 respectively. Sophomore Aravind Arunachalam set a new best for himself at 28:09 to finish fourth for Delaware, followed closely by senior Sasha Latina, who finished in 28:20. Completing the top seven was senior Chris Calandra and junior Dan Giron, with Calandra setting a new personal best of 28:41, and Giron continuing his sub-30 minute streak going 29:51.4.
With one race to go, Delaware is ready to finish the season strong at the NIRCA Cross Country National Championships on November 12th in Richmond, Virginia.
Delaware club cross country made the short trip up to White Clay Creek State Park to host the Delaware Invitational. Along with the University of Delaware Women’s Cross Country team, the teams face the grueling course in a battle to defend their home turf.
The women started off the day with a third place finish in the 6k. Freshman Jade Barrett returned to competition, once again leading the team with a time of 26:37.83, placing 16th. The tandem of junior Jenna Mlecko (27:07.02) and freshman Kaitlyn Burke (27:21.59) took the final two podium spots for Delaware, both finishing in the top 20 overall. Freshman Hannah Heredia finished close behind them, finishing 23rd place in 27:35.9. Junior Natalie Pinto (28:28.54), freshman CJ Williams (28:35.32), and senior Madeleine Dorley (28:53.82) came in with back-to-back-to-back finishes to complete Delaware’s top seven.
The men followed with a first place finish in the 8k. Senior Alex Horgan had complete control of the race, winning the whole meet with a time of 26:49.76. His time puts him above Mike Durkin for 5th place on the Delaware Club Cross Country leaderboard for the White Clay course. Freshman Alejandro Lobo (29:05.04) also cracked the top ten with a 10th place finish, followed closely by fellow freshman Evan Diefenbeck (29:15.62), who finished 11th. Rounding out the scoring five was junior Dan Giron (30:33.14) and senior Chris Calandra (30:41.01) in his first 8k of the season. Senior Sasha Latina followed with a time of 30:56.84, and freshman Brenden Debrosse cracked the top seven for the first time with a personal best 31:42.37.
Delaware’s sights now are pointed to NIRCA Regionals at Lehigh on October 29th, where they will try to qualify as a team for nationals.
