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Men’s Team Secures Strong Second Place; Women’s Team Finishes Third at Delaware Invitational

leahgood

Delaware Club Cross Country made the short trip to White Clay Creek State Park on September 20th, to compete in the Delaware Invitational. Alongside the University of Delaware Women’s Cross Country team, the Blue Hens faced a tough field and a challenging course as they aimed to perform well on their home turf. Continuing their strong performances this season, Lauren Pollock and Brady Sheaffer once again led their teams, with the women’s team finishing third overall and the men’s team taking second.

Leading the women’s 5k for Delaware, was senior Lauren Pollock achieving a course personal best, finishing in 28th place with a time of 21:17.80. Sophomore Claire Merchant continued her success this season, finishing next for the Blue Hens in 22:14.90. Junior Katie Burke followed closely behind with a time of 22:35.80, and junior Jade Barrett finished right after in 22:40. Freshman Zoe Morawski made a solid debut at White Clay, clocking in at 23:00.20. Rounding out the top seven was sophomores Kate Kershaw in 23:02.20, and Marleigh Ballard in 23:06.60. Everyone’s efforts contributed to the women’s team finishing strong in third place against strong competition.

In the men’s 8k, junior Brady Sheaffer had another impressive performance placing 3rd overall with a time of 28:25.0. Following was Junior Evan Diefenbeck in a respectable 29:15. Freshman Sebastian Vandoni continued his successful season by securing 8th place in 30:03.5, closely followed by freshman Michael Colavito in 9th with a time of 30:04.8 finishing top 10. Juniors Josh and Evan Pawlik showcased their competitive spirit, finishing 16th and 17th, respectively, with times of 31:49.0 and 31:52.0. Sophomores Ryan Healy and Sean Simonini finished 18th and 19th in 32:10.0 and 32:22.8 respectively both placing in the top 20 overall. With their hard work paying off, the men’s team secured a strong second-place finish, showcasing their talent on their home course.

Delaware’s cross-country runners will continue to train and head to DeSales University on October 12th to continue their competitive season!

Full results can be found here.

Sebastian Vandoni mid-race.
Zoe Morawski finishing strong.

Winter Break Doesn’t Stop Our Blue Hens From Competing

leahgood

While our Delaware athletes enjoy their long winter break, some Blue Hens took the opportunity to compete in the Collegeville Invitational on Saturday, January 20th at Ursinus College, where they showcased and displayed their efforts from winter training. Despite being a small group comprised of our men’s distance team, our Blue Hens competed in three events at Ursinus College and worked together while racing the clock.

The day commenced with the men’s mile group where freshman Sean Simonini led the Delaware pack with a great race, finishing 21st with a time of 5:02 just shy of breaking the 5-minute barrier. Following close behind was fellow freshman Nik Anna clocking a respectable time of 5:06. Capping off our Delaware milers were Freshman Dylan Aks (5:16), Emmanuel Carreno (5:44), and Ethan Storm (5:48).

Our middle-distance runners had their chance in the 800-meter race, with sophomore Josh Pawlik leading the group and securing a top-20 finish in 19th place with a time of 2:08. Freshman Skylar Grey followed closely, finishing in 2:12, while freshman Nik Anna, having just raced the mile, claimed the third Delaware spot with a time of 2:19.

The day concluded with our 3k men’s group taking on this taxing indoor race. Graduate student Chris Calandra led the pack, finishing in 12th place with a time of 9:39.7, and achieving a new indoor personal best. Sophomore Jack Pelczar finished just behind securing 20th place with a time of 9:57.51 and consistently staying under the 10-minute mark. Junior Caden MacHenry, in his first indoor 3k, finished with a respectable time of 10:14. Freshman Sean Simonini continued his indoor collegiate career, completing the race in 10:27.

Delaware will travel to Penn State University on February 10th for their final meet of the winter track & field season.

Full meet results can be found here.

Calandra working through his 3k race.
The freshman starting their race off strong.

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

rlaz

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)