Indoor Track Enters Heart of Season
Men’s Track competes at the Susquehanna Challenge (Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Colin Lawless, Staff Writer
The Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams each started off 2020 with a strong showing at the Coach I Open, held at Franklin and Marshall on Jan. 25. The meet was the team’s second since they opened the season back on December 7th, also at F&M.
For the men’s side, Sam Sheldon ‘20 moved into 8th place in Gettysburg indoor history with his first-place finish in the mile at 4:24. Dylan McKeever ‘21 also did well in the mile, placing fourth with a time of 4:29.06. Ken Barnes ‘20 leaped 21-04.25 in the long jump to finish an impressive fourth out of 34.
Corey Palazzolo ‘22 and Matthew Weller ‘22, along with Nicholas Grissinger ‘21 all placed in the top ten in the high jump. Palazzolo finished third, Grissinger finished seventh, and Weller tied for eighth. Colin Motill ‘21 competed in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash, finishing in eighth and 13th, respectively. Frederick Tubula ‘22 finished eighth in the triple jump.
The women’s team also had a strong showing. Georgia Larzelere ‘22 finished 12th out of 53 competitors in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:31.91. Anna Pienkos ‘22 finished with a tie at 16th in the high jump. Amanda Addesso ‘23 finished 19th in the 3000-meter dash. Cassidy Callahan ‘23 and Caitlin Yap ‘23 each finished with ties in the pole vault, at 18th and 20th, respectively.
The following Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Susquehanna Challenge, Gettysburg competed in a non-team scoring event with schools from Divisions I, II, and III.
The men’s team featured three individual winners – Barnes in the Long Jump, Sheldon in the 3,000-Meter Run, and McKeever in the 5,000-Meter Run. The women’s team saw a personal record broken by Jessica Alessi ‘22 in the Shot Put and fifth place finish by Rachel Nori ‘23 in in the 5,000-Meter Run.
Sheldon’s personal record (8:42:32) was good for second-best all time in indoor track history at Gettysburg. McKeever’s time placed him fourth in the school’s all time history.
Both teams travel south to Roanoke College next week for another invitational.
