Alex Horgan

Horgan Finishes His Illustrious Career With an Undefeated Season as Delaware Wraps Up The 2023 Season On Their Home Track

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For their final meet of the season, the Delaware Club Track & Field team journeyed to their very own Grant Stadium for the Delaware Invitational. The club team was able to compete at their own campus for the first time since 2018 thanks to this meet, which was hosted by University of Delaware’s Women’s Division I Track & Field team. Unfortunately, the bad weather theme continued for the Blue Hens, with rain falling for the entirety of the contest. But per usual, the squad faced the elements and dropped some heat on the track.

The wettest meet of the season started with the wettest event, the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The water clearly didn’t bother the Blue Hens because two of them smashed their personal bests by 30-plus seconds. Freshman Kaitlyn Burke continued her steeplechase progression by dropping a 12:54.38-second run to place 4th overall in the meet and move up to 4th on the all-time performance list, passing Kendra Cutler’s time from 2019. Senior Jenna Mlecko followed Burke in 5th place at 13:00.83. Mlecko ended her collegiate steeple career with a 36-second improvement on her personal best, which also moved her above Cutler on the performance list.

Despite a very quick turnaround, the duo of Burke and Mlecko also put in great work in the 1500-meter race. The girls placed back-to-back once again, with Burke (5:36.77) and Mlecko (5:37.93) placing 9th and 10th respectively. On the men’s side, senior Alex Horgan once again came out on top, running 4:00.01 in his final 1500 of his collegiate career. Fellow senior Sasha Latina also placed in the top-5 in his final collegiate 1500, his 4:22.21 was good for 4th place overall. Michael Toy (4:24.29) and Caden MacHenry (4:37.61) placed 6th and 7th respectively, and both set new personal bests.

The women’s 4×100 has had a rotation of a few different faces for Delaware, and for the third time this year, a new squad added themselves to the performance list. The group consisting of Sam Radinsky, Gianna Dowling, Grace Wertheimer, Lianna Greenstein added their names to the outdoor performance list at 6th place, and their 57.42-second relay was good for 3rd place at the meet. In the open 100-meter dash, Delaware’s club team took the top two spots in the men’s event. Freshmen DJ Seals (11.71) and Kurt Krummenacker (11.77) took first and second place overall, and Seals’ 0.01-second improvement on his collegiate best was good enough to separate himself from Brandon Lichtenstein to move up to 8th all-time in the club’s history. The freshman duo of Seals and Krummenacker also took podium spots in the 200-meter dash. Seals once again won the event with a time of 23.92, and this race tied Brandon Farzad for 8th all-time in club history. Krummenacker landed in third place at 24.47.

The mid-distance events featured a couple of victories from Blue Hens on the men’s side, all of whom making their season debuts. In the 400-meter race, junior Cam Harrington debuted his season with the 10th fastest outdoor time in club history. Harrington’s 52.81-second race was just enough to hold off the competition to give him the win by just under 0.3 seconds, and edged out Brett Tielman-Fenelus’ time from 2013 by 0.01 seconds to land on the outdoor performance list. Freshman Dave Kelly came out of nowhere to win the 800-meter dash at 2:08.60 to start his college career. Junior Riley McAvinue (1:03.46) didn’t just make his season debut, but his collegiate debut on the track with a win in the 400-meter hurdle race. McAvinue’s time was also good enough to land him at 6th all-time on the outdoor performance list.

The men’s 5k wrapped up the meet in glorious fashion, with the top four spots being owned by members of Delaware’s Track Club. Alex Horgan ended his college track career with an undefeated record in individual events this season. Horgan took his 8th straight victory and broke the 15-minute mark for the second time, running 14:56.08. Senior Chris Clandra (16:54.34) also finished his collegiate track career with a podium finish, coming in 3rd. High school teammates Aravind Arunachalam and Jack Pelczar finished their seasons with a pair of personal bests. Arunachalam finished second in 16:33.63, and Pelczar (16:56.12) broke the 17-minute mark for the first time ever to place 4th.

Full meet results can be found here.

Horgan and Latina embracing after their final race together

MacHenry elated by his new personal best in the 1500

Radinsky locking in for the 4×100

The seven seniors who ended their careers after this meet. Left to right: Chris Calandra, Sasha Latina, Jenna Mlecko, Alex Horgan, Madeleine Dorley, John Papadopoulos, Matt Bieker

Greenstein Headlines a Day Filled with New Personal Bests for Delaware

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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

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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)

Delaware Club Track & Field Takes a Trip to Muhlenberg During Spring Break

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It was spring break for the University of Delaware, and spring break is all about trips, so their club Track & Field team made the trip to Muhlenberg College for the Muhlenberg Invitational. The Blue Hens’ first ever journey to Allentown, PA was with less runners than normal, but they still made their presence known. Despite the downpour before and after the meet, the athletes finally got lucky with great weather to start the month of April.

The women’s team traveled light, with only three athletes in five different events. Gianna Dowling started off Delaware’s meet in the 100-meter dash. Her 14.40 secured a top 30 finish for the freshman in her first outdoor competition. Aubra Sharp placed 32nd in both the 200-meter and the 1500-meter, running 32.33 and 6:11.89 respectively. Sophomore Leah Goodman managed a top-five finish in her heat in both the 1500-meter and the 800-meter races. Goodman opened her day with a 5:57.01 in the 1500, and followed it with 2:54.25 in the 800.

The men had a couple of notable finishes of their own. In the 400-meter dash, the Pawlik twins finished back-to-back, with Evan (56.48) placing 18th and Josh (57.34) placing 19th. Senior Sasha Latina snuck in the top 25 in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:08.90, which followed his 28th place finish in the 1500-meter race, running 4:32.04. Freshmen Brady Sheaffer and Jack Pelczar also churned out great performances in their first ever 1500-meter races. Sheaffer placed 16th at 4:23.40 and Pelczar finished in 4:37.78 to land at 34th. Alex Horgan kept his winning streak alive in the 5k, running 15:21.30 to get his fourth win of the spring. Sophomore Aravind Arunachalam also had himself a day, placing 16th in the 5k with a new personal best time of 16:50.81, breaking the 17-minute mark for the first time in college. Delaware’s top 4×400 squad of Alex Horgan, Evan Pawlik, Sasha Latina, and Josh Pawlik (3:44.39) put up a well-run relay to conclude the day for the Blue Hens, edging out two Scranton teams to place 13th overall.

As Delaware enters their final push of the season, they set their sights to next Saturday, April 8th, for the TCNJ Invitational. 

Full meet results can be found here.

Sheaffer finishing his first ever 1500

 

Goodman battling in the 800

 

Sasha Latina and Logan Mull halfway through their 800-meter race

Both Men and Women Place 4th at the Lloyd Sigler Spring Meet in Windy Conditions

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For their second meet of the spring, and the second meet in two weeks, the Delaware Club Track & Field team traveled the length of their state to Salisbury University for the Lloyd Sigler Spring Meet. The last time they competed in Salisbury, Maryland was right before the COVID pandemic in the 2020 spring season. The weather was once again not in the favor of the runners, with wind gusts reaching over 40 miles per hour at points during the day. Despite this, the Blue Hens pushed through and competed to the best of their abilities.

The meet kicked off with the field events, where three different Blue Hens scored points and etched themselves into the record books. Freshman Maggie Huizinga secured a second place finish in the high jump, leaping 1.45 meters, which was good for a new collegiate best and the second spot on the outdoor performance list. Freshman Lianna Greenstein continued her dominance from the winter, placing in both the long jump and the triple jump. In the long jump, Greenstein placed 6th overall, but her 4.49m jump landed her at second on the performance list. Greenstein one-upped herself in the triple jump later in the day, placing 4th in the meet and jumping 10.05 meters for the furthest outdoor triple jump in club history. Sophomore John Shaw also found his way into a scoring position in the triple jump. His 10.76 meter jump tied him with Devin DeTurk for 8th all-time on the performance list and placed him 5th in the meet.

Women’s steeplechase started the running events, and Delaware did not disappoint. The trio of Jenna Mlecko (14:04.15), Kaitlyn Burke (14:04.76), and Huizinga (15:43.89) swept the field, while Burke and Huizinga found themselves at 6th and 10th on the all-time list. Alex Horgan continued the winning streak for the Delaware distance team, as well as his own personal streak, placing first in the 1500-meter run at 4:06.33. Sophomore Michael Anderson was also able to score in the 1500, his 4:22.47 time placed him 6th overall. Although not beating the entire field like her teammates, sophomore Lauren Pollock also reigned victorious, winning her heat with a time of 5:56.33, and placing 12th overall.

Delaware had a few scoring finishes in the hurdles races. Ryan Wallace (16.30) opened his season with a fifth place finish in the 110-meter hurdle race. Gracy Back had a fantastic start to her first spring season. Her 16.42-second 100-meter hurdle race placed her second overall, and was also the fastest time in the club’s history. Jenny O’Leary (18.77) and Grace Wertheimer (19.93) also secured top ten finishes in both the meet and the all-time performance list for the club. Wertheimer also ran the second fastest 400-meter hurdle race in the club’s history, running 1:25.51 and placing 5th overall. Wallace (1:07.28) also placed in the 400-meter hurdles, this time landing him in 6th.

A pair of Blue Hens managed top finishes in the 400-meter dash. Eli Manning (1:09.19) placed 7th in the women’s race, while Ryan Lazev (54.85) came in 4th for the men.

The freshman short sprinters for Delaware came to play in their races. Gracy Back followed up her hurdle race with another scoring performance in the 100-meter dash, placing 7th. Her 13.66 was also the 4th fastest 100m in club history. Rilee McMahan (13.94) also landed on the all-time leaderboard at 7th, and placed 11th in the entire meet. McMahan (30.43) followed that race up with a 9th place finish in the 200-meter, missing the all-time leaderboard by a hundredth of a second. Kurt Krummenacker did however land on the all-time leaderboard for the 200. His time of 23.95 allowed him to sneak into the 10th spot, as well as 12th overall for the meet.

The final two distance events of the day featured a handful of top finishes for Delaware. In the 800-meter, Mlecko placed 9th, in a time of 2:52.10. Michael Anderson was able to score in the men’s 800 as well, he ran 2:05.56 and placed 4th. In the 5,000-meter run, the duo of senior Sasha Latina and sophomore Aravind Arunachalam placed back-to-back in 11th and 12th respectively. Latina was able to break the 17-minute mark to start the season to finish in 16:54.94, and while Arunachalam fell just short of this mark at 17:03.47, he was able to dominate and win his heat by over 30 seconds.

Overall, both the men and women’s teams placed 4th in the entire meet, with the women grabbing 65 points and the men 48.

The Blue Hens are able to grab a break for a few weeks, with their next meet being on April 1st at Muhlenberg College for the Muhlenberg Invitational.

Full meet results can be found here.