Women’s track dominates at DuCharme Invite
Junior Sarah Rinehart competed in three separate running events Saturday (Photo Courtesy of David Sinclair).
By Alex Petrecca, Staff Writer
The Gettysburg College women’s indoor track and field team had its third meet of the season at Dickinson College at the Ducharme Invitational Saturday.
The team had a great day across the board continuing its season with many strong performances against Centennial Conference foes and other regional teams.
Beginning the team’s day junior Sarah Rinehart was the first collegiate finisher in the 5000 meter race. With a time of 19:19.7 she qualified for the conference championships and beat the second collegiate finisher by over a minute and 20 seconds.
Rinehart’s exceptional day continued in the 800-meter run where she led the field through the first 350 meters. After relinquishing the lead through the middle of the race, a hard charge in the final 150 meters brought her to the finish line first with a time of 2:26.61, which ranks her fifth in school history.
Rinehart was happy with her performances on the day but thinks there is room for even more improvement in the future. She actually felt more prepared for the 800 after her 5k.
“I felt more awake (which) made it so I was ready to run the 800,” said Rinehart.
She credits her teammates as well. Rinehart remarked that her teammates’ encouragement “before the 800 made me more confident in my capabilities in that race… and that I could have a solid kick at the end.”
Also running strong in the 800 was sophomore Hailey Moseman. Moseman finished fourth with a time of 2:30.15. Moseman then continued the momentum when she placed fourth in the 200-meter dash in 29.63.
Both Moseman and Rinehart participated in the 4x400m relay along with sophomore Emily Wielk and junior Danielle DeMichael. Despite it being the last event of a long day, the team won the relay in a time of 4:20.31.
The first victory of the day on the field side for the Bullets came in the pole vault when junior Paige Wesolowski cleared nine feet for the second time this season. Wesolowski was happy with the effort saying “it felt good coming off limited practice” and was surprised to start her day with an early victory.
Wesolowski has to manage going back and forth between the pole vault and the running events she competes in during a track meet. This weekend she ran in the 800-meter and 200-meter dash as well.
“I have to manage my time well between when I am jumping and when I should skip a height,” said Wesolowski.
The junior often has to make a tough choice between being more rested for her later events or making a safer clearance, but using more energy throughout the day.
“It all depends on what time my best is going off and what height we are at,” she said.
The hurdlers posted a very strong overall performance during their time on the track.
In the 55-meter hurdles, three Gettysburg runners posted times worthy of the Centennial Conference Championship. For the finals senior captain Sarah Congdon, sophomore Abigail Rec, and first-year Samantha Miller finished second, fifth and seventh, respectively.
In the 400-meter dash Congdon ran 1:03.65, worthy of second place, while DeMichael and Rec ran identical times of 1:05.43 for a tied fourth place. DeMichael also posted a strong showing in the mile with a conference qualifier of 5:37.95.
On the throwing side Gettysburg continued their strong push with three Bullets finishing in the top eight at the meet. Leading the way were seniors Mikaela Collins (3rd) and Ellery Lyon (5th). Sophomore Katharine Taylor rounded out the squad with an eighth-place finish.
The Bullets continue racing next weekend with two meets. A partial squad will travel to Bucknell University for the Bucknell Tune-up Friday at 4:00 p.m., while the full squad will visit Albright College for the Albright Invitational
