Track and field break records at Ocean Breeze Complex
Select members of the Muhlenberg men’s and women’s track teams were invited to the Fastrack National Invite. Overall, the day was a huge success for the invitees from ‘Berg at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex, located in Staten Island, N.Y. Ten Mules, four women and six men, contributed to the big day filled with leaderboard finishes and broken records.
“The Ocean Breeze invitational has always been a competitive meet as it brings the best out of everyone,” said sprinter Anthony Ware ‘18.
Friday’s meet featured a school record nine personal records, seven all-time top ten finishes, and six qualifications for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) meet. These fantastic results would be impressive at any meet, but the Fastrack National Invite has many Division I athletes participating as well. Ware says that this helps the team push themselves for meets down the road. “The Ocean Breeze meet being pretty much an entire DI meet allowed us to run against high level athletes, more than preparing us to perform well in conferences,” said Ware.
Head track coach Brad Hackett was also proud of the team’s overall performance. “I have been here for 18 years and this was one of the most impressive total group performances in my tenure here at Muhlenberg,” said Hackett about the day as a whole. The coach points to Jaryd Flank ‘17 and Jamie Pacilio ‘18, as “the performers that stand out to me the most from this past weekend.” Flank broke the school record in the mile, shedding close to ten seconds from his lifetime best in the indoor event. “Remarkable,” was the word Hackett used to describe one of his team’s leaders. On the women’s side Pacilio’s performance saw an impressive improvement. She clocked in at 10:03 in the 3000m, which is a 23 second decrease from what she ran at the 2016 Fastrack.
Other Mules who put up impressive results were Ware, Andrew and Partrick Bell ‘17, Anthony Calantoni ‘18, Corey Mullins ’19, Emily Davidson ‘18, Shana Joseph ’18 and Santina Zouras ‘20.
Ware finished fifth in the 60m from a field of 36 runners, many of whom were Division I sprinters. His best time was 6.98 in his first meet since break due to nagging injury.
In the 800m there were only three runners from Division III, and all were from Muhlenberg. Calantoni finished 15th and also claimed the fourth best 800m time in program history. The other two Mules in the race were the Bell twins, who finished .11 seconds apart. Both 2:00.59 and 2:00.70 were personal bests for Andrew and Patrick Bell, respectively.
Another Mule breaking into a top ten list for best times in Muhlenberg history is Mullins. Mullins now holds the eighth fastest time in program history for the mile.
On the women’s side, Davidson and Joseph both were already on Muhlenberg top ten performance lists, but both improved their position by one spot once the Ocean Breeze was all wrapped up. Davidson climbed from fifth to fourth in the mile. Joseph, running in the 200m, went from sixth to fifth. Another Mule also cracked the top ten for the first time ever in the mile. Zouras now sits at ninth on that list. This is promising for Zouras, who is only a freshman and still has some time to keep climbing the rankings.
To Ware, all of this success makes sense. “The team was very prepared because at this point in the season everyone knows the opportunities are dwindling when it comes to improving rankings in the conference or nation,” he said. Ware also acknowledges that there are some on the track team who are battling recurring injuries, which makes him more proud of how he and his teammates “still went out and performed to the best of our ability.”
Moving forward, the men’s and women’s track and field team have some big dates coming up as the winter indoor season comes to a close. The team should keep this meet in mind, as it showed what the Mules team can do when they are at their best. “This meet allows everyone to keep the momentum going into the next two weeks, which include one more meet and then conferences,” said Ware.
Hackett also has set some goals for his squad in the last few weeks of the indoor season. The first is to give opportunities for as many as possible to qualify for the Centennial Conference Championships, as the last regular season meet is the last chance for those who have not qualified so far. Next, Hackett wants to see the team peak for the championships on Feb. 25 and 26 at Ursinus. Finally, Hackett believes that some individuals on the team have an opportunity to compete in the NCAA Championship. “We need to do everything we can to give those people the best chance we can to get them there,” he said.
The Fastrack National Invite was a great day for Muhlenberg’s track and field team, and the strong performances could be just what the team was looking for.