SELINSGROVE PA – The Susquehanna University men's indoor track and field team delivered a well-balanced performance to dominate the Landmark Conference Indoor Championships, earning their third straight league title with 187.5 points. The day offered a pair of major awards also with
Charles Montross taking Rookie of the Year after winning the long jump and second in the 60-meter hurdles, and head coach
Ethan Senecal and staff earning Coaching Staff of the Year.
Montross took the long jump on his last try at 6.95m, while earning second in the 60H with a finals time of 8.63 after qualifying with a prelim time of 8.65. He was one of Susquehanna's five finalists for the hurdles, with
Carter Smink leading four-man pack in the top five with a gold finish of 8.43.
Rowan Smith finished fourth at 8.68, while
Ezra Miller placed fifth at 8.89.
Blake Shellenberger accounted for the last of SU's points in the 60H in seventh at 9.32 for 29 points in the race. Montross also secured more points after placing eighth in the high jump at 1.77m. Another major highlight was in the 4x400 where the quartet of
Rowan Smith,
Mason Winslow,
Brandon Zimmerman, and
Elliott Davis winning with a new championship meet record with a time of 3:26.14.
Starting the day off with the 5K, first-year
Evander Lackman took seventh place with a time of 16:23.04 for the first two points for Susquehanna. In the distance medley relay, SU won with runners
Lukas VanDine,
Ian Anderson,
Josh Kimotho and
Asa Alderman finishing with a collective time of 10:48.47!
Carter Smink,
Rowan Smith,
Charles Montross,
Ezra Miller and
Blake Shellenberger each competed in the 60H and qualified for the finals. Smink in first place with a time of 8.43, Montross right behind in second place with an 8.63, Smith in fourth place with an 8.68, Miller with an 8.89 in fifth place and Shellenberger with a time of 9.32 in seventh place. In the 60 meters both
Brandon Zimmerman and Austinn Hurrell make it to the finals, with Hurrell setting a PR in the Prelims with a 7.05. In the finals Zimmerman came in fifth place with a time of 7.06 and Hurrell in eighth place with a time of 7.16, adding five more points.
Isaiah Blatt,
Ezra Miller,
Ryan Sullivan, and
Dominic Santos finished in fourth place in the 4x200 with a collective time of 1:34.30. TJ Grenda PR'd in the mile with a 4:28.43, placing himself in eighth place, while
Christian Calderaro also reaching a PR with a new time of 4:47.45! Davis earned 10 points in the 400 meters, taking first place with a time of 50.86. Right alongside him
Mason Winslow clocked in a time of 51.36 to take second with eight points, while Sullivan PR'd with a time of 53.63. In the 800 meters
Kareem Beck earns four points finishing in fifth place with a time of 2:03.20. Davis came back for the 200 meters, taking second place in the with a season best of 22.70 and Winslow again finishing right behind him in third place gaining six points with his time of 22.79. Blatt finished with his season best time of 23.45.
In Pole Vault, Blatt reached second place with a height of 4.55 meters, while first-year
Seth Taub gained five points in fourth place with 3.80 meters and sophomore
Thomas Stitt vaulting 3.50 meters in seventh place.
Bryce Ellinger took second place in high jump with a a season best of 2.01 meters. He had a memorable showdown with eventual champion Jerome Luckey from Moravian. Luckey cleared 2.01m on his first attempt, putting the heat on Ellinger to ascend past his previous season best of 1.97m. On his third try he did just that, leading to an anticipated jump-off at the 2.04m bar.
Marcus Moyer placed third with a height of 1.95 meters to earn six points, while Smith earned 2.5 points with a height of 1.82 meters in sixth place and Montross in eighth place jumping 1.77 meters to secure that extra point. Behind Montross in the long jump was Hurrell taking fourth place at 6.70 meters and
Keith Green III jumping 6.57 meters, placing himself in fifth.
Jackson Mabry PR'd with 6.42 meters in eighth place. Green came back out with a second-place mark in the triple jump towards 13.98 meters to crack the top 50 in NCAA Division III. Mabry jumped to a season best of 13.41, placing him in fourth. Hurrell PR'd in seventh place with 12.40 meters, while
Ethan Roe jumped a season best in eighth place at 11.99 meters.
Cole Goodwin landed first place in the shot put at 14.42 meters, while Ryan MacDonald throwing 13.14 meters for fifth place and
Tyler Hauk 12.31 meters in seventh place.
Tim Kizis, Logan Demey and
Tyler Roush each set a PR, Kizis with 11.23 meters, Demey with 10.44 meters and Roush with 9.37 meters. Hauk threw 14.64 meters in the weight throw, placing himself in second place, while Ryan MacDonald placed fifth with a distance of 13.28 meters. Goodwin threw a season best of 12.42 meters, while Demey PRs with a new distance of 11.21 meters!
Susquehanna finished 58 points ahead of second-place Catholic and 80.5 ahead of third-place Moravian. A handful of River Hawks have more indoor season to have with next weekend's AARTFC Championships, hosted by Nazareth College, with the ultimate goal of landing a spot at mid-March's NCAA Indoor National Championships in Virginia Beach, Va.
