BETHLEHEM, PA – The Susquehanna University men's track and field team have their threepeat, winning the Landmark Outdoor Championships Sunday at Moravian with a resounding 264 points and a 126.5-point margin of victory. After a pair of victories Saturday to lead after day one with 67 points, the River Hawks netted six more wins, multiple records and PR's, and nationally-ranked performances for the loaded victory.
The men picked up two individual awards, while head coach
Ethan Senecal and his staff were honored with Coaching Staff of the Year.
Elliott Davis was honored with Co-Track Athlete of the Meet alongside Elizabethtown's Myron Holland Jr., while
Austin Hurrell received the Landmark's Rookie Athlete of the Meet.
The 4x100 relay team got things started in the win column for the River Hawks, as the foursome of
Ian Dyson,
Isaiah Blatt,
Austin Hurrell, and
Elliott Davis won the race by .09 seconds with a new PR of 41.70, good for fourth all-time. Davis then gathered himself to run his specialty, the 400 meters, setting a new championship and Landmark record with his winning time of 47.92, good for third all-time. He later took on the 200 meters, placing silver with a time of 22.10 for fourth all-time. Joining him on the podium in the latter was
Brandon Zimmerman's fifth-place time of 22.51 and Dyson's seventh-place mark of 23.13.
Joey Masser displayed his athletic ability in multiple areas Sunday, starting with re-staking his claim for the 110-meter hurdles with a winning time of 14.51. What was arguably more impressive was his five teammates alongside him in the finals, in which Susquehanna took the top four spots and five of the top six to walk out of the event with 33 points.
Carter Smink ran a lifetime-best 14.64 for second, which is tied for second all-time, while
Benjamin Bulger earned third at 15.12 (seventh all-time),
Ezra Miller fourth at 15.22 (tied for ninth all-time),
Rowan Smith sixth with a PR of 15.88, and Matthew Masser eighth at 21.84.
Masser took second in the triple jump with a measurement of 13.41m, backed by a third-place showing from
Jackson Mabry at 13.34m and
Benjamin Bulger's fifth-place mark of 12.85m to total 18 points. Later in the day
Joey Masser pulled double duty between the shot put and high jump. Running end to end of the facility to make his flights, Masser picked up bronze in the shot put with a personal-best 13.28m. With fresh chalk still on his neck, he took fourth in the high jump at 1.81m.
The bigger story at the high jump, however, was respective gold and silver finishers
Bryce Ellinger and
Marcus Moyer. The two clinched a Susquehanna win when they cleared 2.01m, with the freshman Moyer's clear serving as a new personal best, eighth all-time, and 23rd in the nation. Ellinger prospered on to win the event at 2.08m, breaking the championship, conference, and school records, while holding the fourth-highest mark in the country.
Bulger led a group of River Hawks that took the top four placements in the 400-meter hurdles and five of the top seven. Bulger's winning time of 52.89 earned him a championship meet record and a national qualifier, while serving as the ninth-fastest time in the country.
Carter Smink took second with a PR of 56.42, with
Rowan Smith's third-place time of 56.48 serving as a new PR,
Ezra Miller in fourth at 56.68 for fourth all-time, and
Blake Shellenberger using his PR of 58.20 for seventh.
The men chalked up another nine points in the 100-meter finals, led by
Brandon Zimmerman, who placed fifth at 11.07, good for 10th all-time.
Isaiah Blatt, who won the pole vault on Saturday, took sixth at 11.13, while Hurrell earned seventh at 11.19.
Over in the mid-distance,
Bradshaw Henning earned a new PR in the 800 meters, taking the top spot in the first heat and fourth overall with his time of 1:56.28. The hammer throw featured Saturday's discus champion
Tyler Hauk throwing for fourth place when his final attempt reached 44.23m, while
Brady Zilker set a PR for sixth place at 40.38m, Ryan MacDonald picked up another point for SU in eighth place at 39.22m, while Logan DeMey set a PR at 37.97m for ninth.
To wrap the day, the 4x400 team of Dyson, Miller, Zimmerman, and Davis won with a new PR of 3:20.71. Behind early in the race, the River Hawks gained ground after an impressive split by Zimmerman, who then turned things over to the speedy Davis to win the race.
The win marked the third straight Landmark outdoor title for the men and fourth overall. It also gave Susquehanna its first conference threepeat since its run of five consecutive MAC championships between 1982 and 1986.
