(Posted May 7, 2005)

Chester, Pa. ? The Juniata College men?s and women?s track and field teams rode a number of first-place individual finishes on the final day of the three-day competition to earn a pair of top six team finishes at the 2005 MAC Track and Field Championships in Chester Saturday afternoon. The Eagle men captured a fifth-place finish at the meet as they piled up 73.50 points at the event while the women were sixth at the meet with 88 points, just two points behind the fifth-place team.

Juniata enjoyed a pair of first-place finishes on the men?s side, and two others on the women?s side in the final day. Randy Anderson (DuBois/DuBois) ran to first-place efforts in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes, and topped his own school record in the 200 meter. After running a time of 22.22 in the preliminaries, Anderson posted a new school record with a time of 21.77 in the finals. On the women?s side the first-place efforts came in the throwing events. Regina Diehl (Camp Hill/Camp Hill) placed first, and established a new school record in the hammer throw, while Kira Troutman (Line Mountain/Valley View) was the top finisher in the javelin. Diehl broke the existing school record which had been set earlier in the season, as she recorded a best throw of 127? 7?.

The Eagle men also saw three other school records fall on the final day of competition. Mike Vella (Hollidaysburg/Hollidaysburg) placed seventh in the 1,500 on the day and posted a school-record time of 4:03.81. The Eagles also recorded a new school record in the 4x100-meter relay as the quartet of Anderson, Gary Ondecko, Jr. (Bishop Carroll/Northern Cambria), Matthew Booth (Allentown Central Catholic/Allentown) and Ben Beas (Kiski Prep./Johnstown) ran a time of 42.62 to establish a new record. Ondecko also captured points for Juniata in the open 100 as he earned a seventh-place finish. Beas also captured two top-8 finishes for Juniata as he placed seventh in the 400 hurdles and eighth in the 110 hurdles. Rounding out Juniata?s scoring in the running events was Eric Hoover (Brandywine/Wilmington, Del.) who finished eighth in the 800.

The Eagle men also continued to post strong finishes in the jumping events as Juniata had four athletes in the top-8 in the long jump. Jeremy Weber (Garden Spot/Mohnton) led the way with a third-place finish in the long jump while right behind him was Booth who finished fourth. Anderson added to his successful day with a sixth-place effort in the jump, and Jonathon Van Blarcom (Troy/Columbia Cross Roads) rounded out the scoring as he jumped to eighth-place in the event.

The Juniata women enjoyed a strong all-around day to match the top finishes in the throws. Along with Diehl?s first-place effort Juniata added two scoring efforts in the hammer throw. Debbie Delaney (Franklin/Reisertown, Md.) finished fourth in the event, and Betsy Kusniez (Boyertown/Gilbertsville) added a sixth-place effort. Along with Diehl?s school record, Juniata also set a new mark in the 800. Elena Amato (Notre Dame Prep./Baltimore, Md.) ran a time of 2:17.23 which broke her own school record and placed fourth in the 800.

Meredith Troutman (Meyersdale/Meyersdale) had a pair of point scoring efforts on the day as she placed second in the 400 and eighth in the 100. Nancy Hayes (Westminster/Westminster, Md.) added a sixth-place finish for Juniata in the 5,000 and Rebecca Shoaf (Madison/Madison, N.J.) notched a seventh-place effort in the 400 hurdles.

Maria Welch (Jersey Shore/Avis) rounded out Juniata?s individual scoring in the field events with as she jumped to sixth-place in the long jump. The Eagles added points with a fourth-place finish in the 4x400 relay and a seventh-place performance in the 4x100.

Juniata will return to action next week as the team tries to earn qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships at the Frostburg Last Chance meet.

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