track and field

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.

Delaware Opens Their Spring Season in Frigid Conditions at Capital Relays

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The Delaware Club Track & Field team opened their spring season in the nation’s capital at American University for the Capital Relays. Despite it being the spring season, the winter weather was still hanging on. Throughout the day, runners had to deal with a mix of hail, wind, and near freezing temperatures. Despite this, the Blue Hens fought the elements as well as their opponents to start the season off with gritty performances.

Alex Horgan started the meet for the Blue Hens with a masterful running of the 5k. Horgan not only won the race handily, but he set a new meet record and improved to third all time in club history. On top of all that, he also made a 23-second improvement on his personal best, breaking the 15-minute mark for the first time by running the race in 14:54.78.

As soon as the 5ks finished, the hail started falling hard, just in time for the start of the 100-meter dash. That didn’t stop four Blue Hens from scoring on both sides. In the women’s 100, junior Sam Radinsky (14.53) and freshman Rilee McMahan (14.6) placed 3rd and 4th respectively. The men followed up a pair of 3rd and 4th place finishes of their own. Freshman Kurt Krummenacker (11.44) and junior Daniel Toms (12.07) both managed to score points in their first individual outdoor races of their collegiate careers.

Horgan continued his winning ways in the 1600-meter race. He took the lead half-way through the race and never looked back, securing the win by five seconds with a time of 4:33.73. No women scored for women in the 1600, but freshmen Kaitlyn Burke (6:06.04) and Hannah Heredia (6:06.50) took the top two spots in their heat, both managing top-15 overall finishes. More winning was done in the men’s 4×100-meter relay, where the squad of Krummenacker, Toms, Josiah Taylor, and Shane Isacson won the race in 49.89 seconds.

The 800-meter race had a handful of top-10 finishes and scoring spots. The duo of sophomore Leah Goodman (2:52.82) and Burke (2:53.64) both top-10, squeezing in 9th and 10th respectively. On the men’s side, three Blue Hens managed to score points. Junior Ryan Lazev (2:09.98), freshman Josh Pawlik (2:10.66), and senior Sasha Latina (2:11.16) finished back-to-back-to-back, finishing in 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively.

In the final and most anticipated event of the day, three evenly matched men’s 4×400 relay teams from Delaware battled it out for the crown. In a back and forth race, it all came down to the final leg, where Caden MacHenry went from third to first, catching his teammate at the line, giving him, Lazev, Brady Sheaffer, and Evan Pawlik the victory. Unfortunately, the heat-winning time of 3:56.25 was only good for 2nd place overall.

As a unit, the University of Delaware’s men’s team was the top squad. They finished with 81 total points, which was 34 more than second place. The women’s team scored 37 points, which landed them at 4th place.

The club only has to wait one week for their next meet. The Lloyd Sigler Spring Meet takes place on March 4th, hosted by Salisbury University.

Full men’s results can be found here, and women’s here.

Horgan celebrating his new personal best in the 5k

Toms and Krummenacker fighting the elements in the 100-meter

Caden MacHenry passing John Papadopoulus at the finish line of the 4×400 with the entire team cheering them on