May 16, 2014

Wolverines compete at ECAC Championships

TROY, N.Y. -- Twenty-two Grove City College track and field athletes competed in the 2014 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championships, hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Thursday and Friday. The women's team placed 18th overall with 17 team points and the men finished 42nd with five points.

Sophomore Emily Rabenold (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) helped lead the women's effort by taking second in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a school-record time of 10 minutes, 51.03 seconds.

Meanwhile, sophomore Eliza Lowe (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) recorded sixth-place finishes in both hurdle events. She took sixth in the 400 hurdles (1:04.86) and also captured sixth in the 100 high hurdles with a time of 14.62 seconds. Lowe broke her own school record in the high hurdles by posting a time of 14.35 seconds in the preliminaries.

Grove City's 3200-meter relay quartet of sophomore Janice Novacek (Hopewell, Pa./Hopewell), junior Caroline Kimpel (Columbiana, Ohio/Columbiana), senior Austin Powell (Shamong, N.J./Seneca) and senior Cayla Clawson (York, Pa./Central York) closed the meet by finishing sixth with a time of 9:47.27.

Grove City also competed in the 400- and 1600-meter relays. Lowe, freshman Sarah Williamson (Mount Wolf, Pa./Northeastern), freshman Lauren Pearce (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville) and sophomore Allison Blain (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) placed 16th in the 1600 relay with a school-record time of 3:59.45. Blain, Lowe, Williamson and freshman Kate Hussey (Port Murray, N.J./Warren Hills) earned 17th in the 400 relay with a school-record time of 49.44 seconds.

Senior Laurel Skorup (Sandwich, Ill./Sandwich) placed 15th in the steeplechase (11:33.43) and classmate Sarah Cessar (Slippery Rock, Pa./Slippery Rock) earned 27th with a time of 11:57.70.

On the men's side, senior John Green (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier Valley) earned fourth place in the 400 meters with a time of 49.21 seconds. He also anchored Grove City's 400-meter and 1600-meter relay squads. The 400-meter relay squad placed 14th as Green, junior Thomas Whittaker (Grove City, Pa./Grove City), freshman Nick Betz (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon) and freshman Tyler Ramsey (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland) recorded a time of 43.81 seconds.

Betz, Green, freshman Ryan Buchalter (Colorado Springs, Colo./Colorado Springs Christian) and junior Ethan Witmer (North Lima, Ohio/South Range) placed 15th in the 1600 relay with a time of 3:24.09.

Grove City's best relay finish came in the relay as Buchalter, senior Arleigh McRae (East Brookfield, Mass./Whitinsville Christian), senior Matt Mucha (Parma, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) and senior Matt Logie (West Chester, Pa./Delaware County Christian) combined for a 12th-place finish in 8:08.21.

Betz also competed in both hurdle events. He took ninth in the 110 high hurdles (15.01) and added a 12th-place finish in the 400 hurdles (55.77).

Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the women's championship with 56 points. Oneonta State won the men's crown with 55 points.

A number of Grove City athletes are in contention for invitations to the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held next week at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.

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