On Saturday, March 20 the West Chester track and field team participated in their first outdoor meet of the season. WCU placed 16 male athletes in the top-eight during the events on Saturday afternoon. The Rams also received four first-place ribbons, one runner up and one-third place trophy. Among the winners, Craig Espenshade won the 400m with a time of 48.78 seconds as well as finishing eighth in the 200m with a time of 22.81 seconds.
Matt Langdale was also one of the gold-medal winners, completing the 1500m in 4:05.28 as well as placing fifth in the 800m. Jacob Perry finished behind Langdale in the 1500m, coming in sixth place with a time of 4:12.28. Mike Malejko competed in the 5000m, finishing in fifth place with a time of 16:39.25.
Kyle Miller came through on top with a win in the pole-vaulting competition, clearing 13 feet 7 ¬ inches. Zach Sharrah and Kevin Bock came in seventh and eighth place consecutively in the pole vault.
Tyler Real was a runner up in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.81 seconds. Ryan Karli completed the 110m hurdles in 16.14 seconds, putting him in sixth place, followed by Eric Akins who came in seventh place with a time of 16.46 seconds.
Teammate, Andrew Furst finished fifth in the high jump, leaping a total of 6-0 _ inches. Shawn Smith won the long jump, finishing with a leap of 22-9 _ inches. Smith also finished third in the 100m with a time of 11.23 seconds.
“I was happy with my performance in the long jump, but I left a lot of room for improvement in the 100m and 200m,” Smith said.
Smith also states his expectations for the rest of the outdoor track season: “My goal for the outdoor season is to qualify for the Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the long jump alongside my teammate, Leighon Johnson. I’m also excited to run the 4×100 this outdoor season when all the members of the team are able to compete.”
The Lady Rams also housed four first-place finishes at their outdoor season opener March 20. Altogether, 29 Golden Ram athletes were place winners. Nine of those place winners were top three in their specific events.
The long jump competition placed four WCU athletes in the top seven, four more athletes in the top six of the triple jump and four in the top five of the high jump.
Katie Butler won the high jump competition, clearing 5 feet, 4 inches. Behind Butler, teammate, Brigid Harron and Wentz tied for third place with jumps of 5- inches. Meanwhile, Andrea Lengal came in fifth place, leaping 4-10 inches.
Melinda Wentz won the 110m hurdles in a time of 16.11 seconds as well as winning the long jump competition with a leap of 16-7 _ inches.
“It was nice placing first in two of the events, but I am still not at the performance level that I would like to be, so I am very excited to compete this weekend at Widener,” Wentz said.
Behind Wentz, Butler came in third place in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.38 seconds and Brigid Gallagher came in seventh (17.50).
Following close behind Wentz, Nicole Reaves came in fourth in the long jump (15-11 _), fifth place was given to Aimee Sitch (15-7 _) and Dana Dietrich took seventh place (15-4).
Brittany Foye and Miriam Hughes tied for third place in the triple jump with distances of 34-11 ¬ inches. Dietrich came in fifth (34-9 ) and Reaves sixth (33-10 ¬).
Another gold medal winner, Kamber Schrann cleared 10-6 in the pole vault.
Sam Smarkola finished third in the 100m (13.01) and the 200m (26.80).
Lyndsey Ratasiewicz came in fourth in the 1500m, finishing the race in 4:55.66, as well as coming in fifth in the 3000m with a time of 10:58.14. Leigh Gumlock-Silfies came in fifth place, behind Ratasiewicz in the 1500m (4:59.09) along with Jess Joseph finishing behind Ratasiewicz in the 3000m with a time of 11:05.51.
Gumlock-Silfies also came in sixth in the 800m (2:27.12) while Lyndsay Nygren came in eighth (2:28.06).
Melissa Gillen finished the 400m in 1:04.13, which put her in seventh place. Following close behind was eighth place finisher Shannon Murphy with a time of 1:04.39.
Wentz has her eye on the prize for the rest of the season, “As for the women’s team, I would like to see us in the top 5 at PSAC Championships. We have a lot of good potential and should be able to surprise everyone at PSAC’s if we keep up the hard work.”
The Rams competed in a two-day meet Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27 at Widener. The results for the meet will be posted in the following article. The Golden Rams next home event is scheduled for April 9 and 10, which is the WCU Collegiate Invite.
Jillian Morgan is a third-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at JM652349@wcupa.edu.