The West Chester University men’s and women’s track & field teams saw a number of their athletes qualify for the PSAC championships over the weekend at the PSAC East Challenge held a Millersville University. The women’s team hit 11 PSAC qualifying standards, while the men managed eight individual and two team qualifiers.
For WCU’s women, the top event was the 100 hurdles, where three athletes hit conference championship qualifying marks.
Maria Baker finished third in the event with a time of 15.36 seconds. C.J. Jacob’s time of 15.45 was good for fourth in the event, while Katie Butler finished sixth with a time of 15.75.
Butler also qualified for the PSACs in the high jump event by clearing a height of 5 feet, inches. That height was good enough to tie her for fifth place overall in the event. to tie for fifth place. Jacob also qualified with a third-place showing in the long jump with a distance of 17-3 ¬.
Lyndsey Ratasiewicz led the way, however, for the Golden Rams as she finished in second place in the steeplechase event. Her time was 11 minutes, 47.49 seconds.
Brittany Foye placed third in the triple jump event by leaping a distance of 35-4 _.
Also on the field, Liz Jackson placed third in the shot put event with a distance of 37-8 _. Noreen Seymour finished fifth in the hammer toss with a distance of 133-10.
Also for the Golden Rams, Kamber Schrann finished sixth in the pole vault by clearing a height of 9-6 ¬. Melinda Wentz placed fifth in the 100m with a time of 12.99, and Sam Smarkola finished 10th in the 200m with a time of 26.6. Last week Smarkola was named the PSAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week.
On the men’s side, the Rams saw their 4x100m relay team and 4x400m relay team hit qualifying marks. The 4x100m team, which consists of Dan Nasko, Leighon Johnson, Eric Hammond and Matt Houser, finished second with a time of 42.69 seconds. The 4x400m team, which consists of Hammond, Houser, Adam Swetra and Craig Espenshade, placed third with a time of 3 minutes, 23.86 seconds.
Matt Langdale stole the show for the Golden Rams, however, by placing first in the 800m event with a time of 1:58.41.
Johnson hit individual qualifying marks in both the 100m and 200m dash events. He placed second in each, by recording times of 10.84 seconds and 21.67 seconds respectively. Houser placed fourth with a time of 22.31, while Nasko finished in sixth 22.57 in the 200m.
Espenshade’s time of 50.35 was good for a third place finish in the 400m event. Swetra also qualified in the 400m hurdles with a 57.66 time. Also on the field, Kyle Miller finished third in the pole vault, by clearing a height of 14 feet, 1 ¬ inches.
The Golden Rams will next be in action this weekend at home at the West Chester Invitational. Events will be held on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Colin McGlinchey is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at CM646588@wcupa.edu.