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EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University men's track and field program, led by four defending champions, will look for its first-ever PSAC title when the conference converges on West Chester's Farrell Stadium this weekend.
The Warriors have six seniors who have won multiple PSAC championships, including
Andrew McCloskey, who won the 100, 200 and anchored the winning 4x100 relay team as ESU finished second behind Shippensburg (143.5-137) last year at Millersville.
McCloskey;
Chris Reddick, the two-time indoor 200m champion and a member of the 4x100 relay;
Rusty Smith, last year's 110m hurdles winner;
Paul Wagner, a six-time PSAC champion and the two-time defending champ in the hammer throw; and
Drew Miller (triple jump) and
Matthew Gallup (pole vault), both four-time champs in their events; have combined for 20 individual PSAC titles in their careers.
ESU was edged by Lock Haven, 135-134.5, for the indoor title this season and compiled school-record point totals in both the 2009 outdoor and 2010 indoor championships. ESU, Lock Haven and Shippensburg have held the top three spots in each of the last two championships (Ship, ESU and LHU outdoors; LHU, ESU and Ship indoors).
ESU's women were 5th outdoors (79.5 points) last spring and 3rd at this year's indoor championships (80.75 points), as freshman
Lauren Ventrella (60m hurdles), junior
Lynn Mayer (high jump) and senior
Trina Carito (pentathlon) won individual crowns.
Mayer went on to tie for 2nd at the NCAA Division II championships and is the odds-on favorite to earn her second career PSAC title, while Carito will compete in four events – the heptathlon, triple jump, high jump and 4x400m relay – as she closes her outdoor career.
At the national level, Wagner, Miller and Mayer are all automatic qualifiers for the 2010 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships, which will be held May 27-29 at UNC Charlotte. Miller is also a provisional qualifier in the long jump, along with Gallup, Reddick (400m), junior
Bill Buis and sophomore
Josh Hontz (javelin), Carito (pentathlon, long jump), senior
Janelle Smith (high jump) and the men's 4x400m relay team.
MEN'S PREVIEW
McCloskey's performance last year earned him the Men's Outstanding Athlete of the Meet, an honor that Reddick claimed at the 2010 indoor championships. McCloskey ran school-record times of 10.41 in the 100 and 21.30 in the 200, just the second ESU athlete to claim the 100-200 double, and anchored the 4x100 relay to a PSAC meet record time of 40.83. Reddick ran 21.24 to win the 200 at the indoor championships, finished second in the 400 (48.17) and led off for the winning 4x400 relay (3:16.39).
The duo leads the Warriors' championship hopefuls on the track as half of the this year's top-ranked 4x100m relay team, along with junior
Asher Ashfield and sophomore
Ian Melhorn. The squad has run four sub-41.50 times this spring, including 41.43 at the Penn Relays and a season-best of 41.41 on May 1 at Lock Haven.
Individually, ESU has three of the top six times in the 100, four of the top nine in the 200 and two of the top six in the 400. McCloskey is 2nd in the 100 (10.69) and 5th in the 200 (21.80), rounding into form after missing the indoor championships due to injury; Ashfield is 3rd in the 100 (10.74) and Melhorn is 6th in the 100 (10.90) and 8th in the 200 (21.97).
Reddick and junior
Negus Graham will both run the demanding double in the 200 and 400. Reddick has a provisional time of 47.90 in the 400 while coming off his outstanding indoor season, while Graham was an All-American in the indoor 400 (school record 47.37) and placed 3rd in both the 200 and 400 indoors.
The 4x400m relay of Reddick, Melhorn, junior
Greg Pammer and Graham posted a school-record time of 3:14.29 last weekend and comprised the winning quartet indoors. ESU's last 4x400 outdoor titles came in 1984 and 1985, both anchored by All-American hurdler Jack Goldowski.
In the hurdles, Smith will look for his third career PSAC championship and second straight at 110 meters. A two-time indoor All-American, Smith is the school record holder with a time of 14.41 last year and is rebounding from an injury that forced him to miss the early part of the outdoor season. Freshman Corey Young has the PSAC's 4th-best time (15.00) in the 110 and was 5th in the 60m hurdles indoors.
Freshmen
Frank Fezza and
Mike Saparito lead the Warriors in the middle distance and distance events. Fezza set the school record in the 3000m at the indoor championships, finishing 5th in 8:30.45, and is ranked 6th in the conference in the 1500m entering the weekend. Saparito was 3rd in the 800m indoors and is ESU's top contender at the distance, along with sophomore
Sam Janssen and junior
Mahmoud Aldeen. Sophomore
Chris Zadroga and
Kyle Weir will both have an opportunity to pick up points in the 3000m steeplechase.
Wagner, Miller and Gallup pace the Warriors in the field events, where they have dominated their individual disciplines over the last three years.
Wagner can become the third seven-time PSAC champion in school history, joining jumper Lenny Jenkins (1973-75) and distance runner Sue Carden (1979-82). He claimed indoor titles in the weight throw and shot put this year, won three straight titles in the weight and has claimed the last two championships in the hammer throw. He was an All-American in the hammer last spring.
His mark of 203-2 in the hammer, a PSAC and school record, is 7th in Division II and the top distance in the PSAC by nearly 15 feet. He is also ranked 4th in the shot put (49-3 1/2) and 6th in the discus (148-10) and has scored in 12 events over the past six PSAC championships.
Miller, a four-time PSAC triple jump champion, is tied for 5th in Division II at 50-8 3/4 and will also be a top contender in the long jump, where he is 2nd in the PSAC and tied for 14th in the nation at 23-11 3/4. He won three straight indoor triple jump titles (2008-10), along with the 2008 outdoor title, and was second outdoors last year. His mark in the triple jump this year is the best in the PSAC by more than three feet, and he won the indoor title by more than two feet at 50-1 3/4.
Gallup is 2nd in the pole vault entering the PSAC championships, clearing 16-2 3/4, and is going after his fifth career conference championship. The school record holder both indoors (16-2 3/4) and outdoors (16-8 3/4), Gallup won both PSAC titles as a sophomore and junior before placing 4th indoors this season.
Hontz and Buis, both provisional qualifiers in the javelin, are ranked in the top four in the PSAC. Hontz's mark of 201-11 is 2nd in the conference and Buis is 4th at 198-5. The Warriors also have three strong contenders in the high jump – freshman
Kyle Soden (6-6 3/4), senior
Shane Burrows (6-6) and sophomore
Dan Johnson (6-4 3/4) – while Johnson (4th, 5,951 points) and senior
Colin Feeney (8th, 5,529 points) will compete in the decathlon.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Mayer, a three-time All-American in the high jump and the runner-up indoors at 5-8 1/2 in March, has had a remarkable outdoor season which includes an NCAA automatic mark of 5-9 3/4 at the Penn Relays and individual championships in eight meets. She leads a contingent of five high jumpers that all placed in the top eight in the PSAC two months ago.
Smith has the PSAC's 2nd-best mark at 5-7, also at the Penn Relays, and has placed in the top eight at all seven conference championships during her career. She was 4th indoors at 5-5 and is a three-time NCAA participant. Sophomore
Devyn Emerich also cleared 5-5 to place 5th indoors and senior
Emily Hollick tied for 7th at 5-3. Hollick will also run the 400m hurdles and was 7th at last year's outdoor championships.
Carito was the fifth ESU high jumper to score indoors, placing 6th at 5-3. She will also compete in the heptathlon, triple jump and 4x400m relay and has been one of the Warriors' top athletes since she arrived on campus. Her NCAA provisional score in the heptathlon (4,538 points) is 3rd in the PSAC and she is ranked 5th in the high jump (5-4 1/2) and 9th in the triple jump (36-11).
Carito has placed in a total of 18 events in her career, 13 individual and five relays, and has won three PSAC championships. She is the only multi-event champion in ESU women's track and field history, winning the heptathlon (outdoors) in 2008 and heptathlon (indoors) in 2010, along with the 2008 indoor title in the triple jump.
Ventrella was the PSAC Freshman of the Year during the indoor season after winning the 60m hurdles, placing 3rd in the 60m dash and leading off for the 4th-place 4x400m relay. She has the 4th-best time in the conference in the 100m hurdles at 14.93 and will run the 200m, 4x100 and 4x400 this weekend.
Junior
Jasmine Johnson was the PSAC runner-up in both the 200 and 400 indoors this year, running times of 25.47 and 56.70. She is ranked 3rd in the 400 (57.08) and 6th in the 200 (25.79) and has placed 3rd in the 400 at each of her first two outdoor championships.
Johnson and Ventrella will run on both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The Warriors are ranked 6th in the 4x100 (49.25) and 4th in the 4x400 (3:55.24), and were 4th in the 4x400 indoors at 3:59.65.
Senior
Niki Pasquarella and freshmen
Rose Mascoli and
Corinne Fitzgerald will be featured in the distance events. Mascoli has the Warriors' top times at every distance from 800 to 10,000 meters and is expected to compete in the 1500 (4:48.21) and 10,000 (37:29.93). Fitzgerald and Pasquarella should both contend in the 3000m steeplechase, where they rank 5th and 6th in the conference, respectively.
ESU's women's throwers are led by senior
Amanda Sines, who won PSAC titles in the shot put indoors in 2007 and outdoors in 2009. Her season best of 40-9 3/4 is 6th this season. She is also ranked 6th in the hammer (150-1) and 10th in the discus (120-5). Junior
Danielle Laws is 4th in the discus (128-3) and 5th in the hammer (153-1), while senior
Emily Carothers (shot put, hammer) and junior
Jackie Berthelsen (shot put, discus) also have top-15 marks in the conference.
Freshman
Paige Fleagle rounds out the Warriors' contenders, ranking 10th in the javelin with a season best of 120-9.
ESU's Multiple Individual PSAC Champions
(Note: indoor championships began in 2002)
7 – Lenny Jenkins, Sue Carden
Jenkins - 1973, 1975 LJ, TJ; 1974 LJ, TJ, PV
Carden - 1979 5k; 1980-82 5k, 10k
6 – Paul Wagner
Wagner - 2008-09 weight indoor, hammer outdoor; 2010 weight indoor, shot indoor
4 – Drew Miller, Matthew Gallup, Mike Newhard, Natasha Jarrett, Lance Branyan, Pete Heesen
Miller - 2008 TJ indoor, TJ outdoor; 2009-10 TJ indoor
Gallup - 2008-09 PV indoor, PV outdoor
Newhard - 2001 HJ outdoor; 2002-04 HJ indoor
Jarrett - 2003-04 55 indoor, 200 indoor
Branyan - 1988 decathlon; 1991 decathlon, javelin; 1992 javelin
Heesen - 1975, 1977 3000 steeplechase; 1976 3000 steeplechase, 6 miles
3 – Trina Carito, Iuri Pinto, Jan Blake, Jenn Moyer, Karen Way, Paul Ferency, Dale Robertson
Carito - 2008 TJ indoor, heptathlon outdoor; 2010 pentathlon indoor
Pinto - 2007 mile indoor, 1500 outdoor; 2008 1500 outdoor (also DMR indoor 2005-07)
Blake - 1995 1500; 1996 800, 1500
Moyer - 1992 10k; 1993 5k, 10k
Way - 1988, 1990-91 HJ
Ferency - 1976, 1978, 1979 shot
Robertson - 1977 400 hurdles; 1978 110 hurdles, 400 hurdles (also 4x100 relay 1978)
2 – Chris Reddick, Andrew McCloskey, Rusty Smith, Amanda Sines, Vanessa Andes, Tawny Youtz, Rob Stone, Evan Arnow-Perfilio, Michelle Cole, Jack Goldowski, Mike Revenis, Elbert Price, Russ Hopewell
Reddick - 2009-10 200 indoor (also 4x100 outdoor 2009, 4x400 indoor 2010)
McCloskey - 2009 100 outdoor, 200 outdoor (also 4x100 outdoor 2009)
Smith - 2009 55 hurdles indoor, 110 hurdles outdoor
Sines - 2007 shot indoor, 2009 shot outdoor
Andes - 2004-05 10k outdoor
Youtz - 2005 400 indoor, 400 outdoor (also 4x400 relay indoor 2003-04, 4x100 relay outdoor 2005)
Stone - 1996, 1998 LJ
Arnow-Perfilio - 1992-93 LJ
Cole - 1992 200, 400
Goldowski - 1984-85 400 hurdles (also 4x400 relay 1984-85)
Revenis - 1981-82 javelin
Price - 1977 100, 200
Hopewell - 1961-62 LJ (also mile relay 1961)
