WESTMINSTER, Pa.—The Franciscan University track and field team continued to show improvements at the Westminster Invitational Saturday with the men's team placing 10th out of 15 teams with 28 points and the women's team placing 10th out of 14 with 23 points.
"Performances were very good despite rain and wind," noted distance coach, Alan Schreck.
Highlights for the Lady Barons included junior Sara Mueller's first place finish in the 1,500-meter run with a new school and personal record time of 4:59.73. Freshman Katelyn Hoffman and senior Emily Kraudel also performed well in the 400-meter dash, placing sixth and seventh with times of 1:03.34 and 1:03.61, respectively. Hoffman broke the school record for the 400 meter. Kraudel also placed eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:31.61. The 4x100 relay team placed sixth and the 4x400 relay took fifth with 4:31.83.
Key Baron performances were
Joey Schlueter's second place 10:16.41 school and personal record time, in the steeplechase;
David Willems' 5k personal record time of 16:52.73;
Michael Gotta's fourth place in the steeplechase with a time of 10:43.33; and
Morgan Gilcrest's fifth place in the 800 meter with a time of 2:02.62.
James Marra earned points for the team with his fourth place 400 meter personal record of 51.29 and senior
Hunter Mason achieved a new personal record of 5.23 meters in the long jump. The men's 4x400 relay also took fifth place with a time of 3:35.03.
Junior
Bill Jones competed in the All-Ohio Championships at Ohio Wesleyan University winning the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:59.10 and placing fifth in the 800 meter with 1:57.40. Jones is currently ranked seventh in the nation in the 5k and qualified to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference May 18-19.
Head sprinter coach, Jack Thornton remarked that now, with several meets under their belts, the team will begin raising the bar in practice. "We're making each day count rather than counting each day, putting something in, in order to withdraw something later."
The track and field team next competes at Baldwin-Wallace next Saturday, April 21st.
