Bucknell Bison Classic

Each year the team travels to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to compete in the Bucknell Bison Outdoor track and field meet.  With each trip, there is never a lack of impressive performances, and this year was no different for the Gators.

On day one of the two day meet, junior captain, Bobby Over, led the gators on the track running the 3,000m steeple chase Saturday evening.  Over ran a time of 9:03.82, recording the fastest time in the nation for Division III midway through the season.  His impressive performance placed him as the top performer the event in school history, beating the previous record by an incredible twelve seconds.

Tom DeAscentis and Jack Denison

Also on the track, junior captain Mike Vlah and sophomore Tom DeAscentis ran the 1500m.  Vlah placed first among Division III competitors in the event with a time of 3:56.01, and at the same time recorded his personal best.  DeAscentis had a massive personal best with a very solid time of 4:06.06.  In the next event, the 5000m, sophomore Jack Denison cut eleven seconds from his best time to cross the finish line with a time of 15:29.15.  Rookie James Rynes joined the strong track performance list breaking sixteen minutes for the first time of his career with a time of 15:47.42.  In his first 10,000m run of the season, to finish off the first day on the track, senior Pat McLaughlin crossed the line in a time of 31:06.11 which places him for the first time on the Allegheny Top Five list in that event.

On day one in the field, senior captain Lauren Butler and sophomores Taylor Endress and Cameron Day competed in the strongest field they have seen in the javelin so far this season.  On the men’s side, Day had an outstanding series finishing in twelfth overall and second among Division III competitors with a throw of 176’.  On the women’s side, Endress rounded out the first flight of the javelin with a throw of 119’10”, a tremendous personal best which also places her second in the NCAC.  Butler made finals and placed first overall amongst Division III and eighth within all divisions with a throw of 137’.

Senior Kristin Collins

The hammer throw was the first event competed on day two of the competition.  The three competitors senior Kristin Collins, sophomore Tova Feinberg, and Lauren Butler competed in a field of strong athletes.  They threw 131’11”, 130’2”, and 128’4” respectively.

Continuing the strong performances on the track senior captain Taylor Throckmorton competed in the 400m dash sprinting his way to a ninth place overall title with a season best time of 49.17.

Rounding up day two for the Gators was freshman Ashley Krause in the triple jump.  Not wanting to be left out of the success at her first Bison Classic, Krause jumped 10.38m, which was only 4cm off of her personal best.

Athlete Highlight (Lauren Butler)

Continuing with our "Athlete Highlight Series", hailing from New Kensington, PA, our 2-Time All-American Senior Thrower, Lauren Butler has some things to say about her four years being an Allegheny College Track & Field Student-Athlete.

Four-Time Indoor Shot Put NCAC Champ

Most people will walk into their first practice freshman year, wide eyed and unsure of what their experiences are going to be on the track or in the field.  Unsure if they are ready for that first workout.  Unsure of whether they will fit in with their teammates, unsure if their coaches will like them, and unsure if they will fail or succeed.  Then they arrive, they meet people they may have never talked to before, they spend five hours a day with them in practice, at dinner, at meets, game nights, and they begin to form bonds.  Your teammates are now your family away from home.

They are the people you can rely on to be there for you even when the season is at its worst.  They become your blankets when huddling together outside in the freezing cold between events.  They become your best friends, and they become your competitors.  They become the people who care about you most on campus, on and off the field.  They become the people that after you graduate, you are going to miss the most.  That is what it has meant to be a track athlete on the team at Allegheny College.

As I am almost at a half way mark in my final outdoor season, it is only appropriate to reflect on my time as a Gator.  I have been blessed to be a two-time All-American in the javelin, four-time indoor shot put conference champion, three-time indoor field athlete of the year, and three-time outdoor javelin champion with hopefully a fourth to come soon.  I have been so grateful to be able to travel to and participate in the Division III outdoor track and field meet four years in a row.  These are accomplishments that I can walk away from after this season is over holding my head high.

Two-Time All-American in the Javelin

I am so grateful to be surrounded by coaches and teammates who genuinely care, letting you know that even if you have a bad meet, you can bounce right back the next week and get a personal record.  It only takes one jump, one throw, or one great time.  It has been a pleasure watching the underclassmen come in just hoping to make it through, and end up surprising themselves when they perform better than they ever thought they could.  Each person is working hard and wants to get better, which strengthens the team environment.  The talent is there, this team is full of it, and it has been so much fun to watch others find what they will succeed, or possibly already succeeding at.

Lauren Throwing the Weight

The best thing I can tell you all is that I am leaving here sure; more sure than I ever could have imagined when I first got here.  I am sure that I can jump into a workout at the next practice and make it through.  I am sure about the positive experiences I have had here.  I am sure of the awesome opportunities to be successful that the coaching staff can provide.  I am proud to say that I have had more moments of success than failure, and I owe it to the environment that the team provides.  I have built great and lasting relationships with my teammates and my coaches. No matter where our lives take us after we leave Allegheny, the people on the track team will always remain my family.  The bond we have shared will forever tie us to this college, to this athletic program with tremendous history and tradition we all have been lucky to be a part of.      

Lauren M. Butler (12’)

NCAC Indoor Championships

A trio of competitors kicked off the 2012 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships for Allegheny as this year's iteration of the indoor conference meet began a week before the rest of the meet with the heptathlon. Hill finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.36 to spark a strong start for the Blue and Gold. Taggart split 7.69 in a tightly-contested fourth heat while finishing 11th overall in the event. Ordines capped the opening event with a time of 8.15.

Zach Hill

Hill followed up the good start with a fourth-place finish in the long jump (20'4.25”) while delivering his best leap on his last attempt. Taggart's top effort covered a distance of 19'9” to place seventh and Ordines finished 11th with a jump of 18'3.25”. Ordines made a move for the Gators in the shot put, pacing Allegheny's contingent with a fifth-place throw of 32'8.5”. Taggart (30'4.75”) and Hill (29'8.25”) finished 12th and 13th, respectively, but less than one hundred points was lost in their chase of the lead pack.

The opening day of the heptathlon championship concluded with the high jump. Allegheny flexed its muscle in the event by placing all three competitors in the top six, including a tie for first by Taggart, who cleared a meet-best 6'2” on his first attempt. Ordines jumped 5'10.5” on his last attempt to secure third overall, while Hill closed in sixth after clearing 5'7”.

Zach Hill finished fifth overall in the two-day heptathlon. Hill entered the day sixth in the individual standings, but moved up the rankings with a fourth-place finish in the last event of the competition. The first-year team member ran 2:52.71 in the 1,000-meter run to orchestrate a 350-point swing against OWU's Erik Wall. He also finished eighth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.58 and 10th in the pole vault with a clear of 9'7.25”. Hill finished with a personal-record total of 4,062. Although they were kept out of the scoring, rookies Nathan Taggart and Taylor Ordines also pieced together solid first-time efforts in the seven-event competition.

Taggart opened the day with a fourth-place finish in the hurdles, shooting out of the blocks en route to a personal-record of 9.12. Taggart was unable to maintain the strong start through the final two events while falling to ninth overall with a score of 3,893. Ordines finished 13th in the competition with a total of 3,534. He closed 10th overall in both the hurdles and pole vault.

Senior Lauren Butler and junior Bobby Over captured individual titles at the 2012 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, sparking a strong performance for the Gators on the first day of the meet. Butler delivered a pedestrian performance in the shot put, but only needed her first throw to distinguish herself from the field. Winning the shot with a mark of 40'4.75”, Butler etched her name into the annals of NCAC lore by winning the event for the fourth consecutive season. She is currently ranked 17th in the nation in the event as she looks to make a repeat trip to the NCAA Championships.

Junior distance standout Bobby Over fueled the men's team on Friday after breaking the tape in a tightly-contested 5,000-meter run. The pace was unsurprisingly slow at the start of the race, while Over asserted himself in the lead pack from the opening gun. Holding off a strong charge by Wabash senior Brian David, Over finished the race in 15:13.62 en route to his first league crown. The Gators picked up 15 points in the 5k as senior Patrick McLaughlin finished sixth and junior Kevin Edwards was awarded seventh. The Allegheny tandem produced the exact same time (15:24.93), while finishing two one-hundredths of a second behind DePauw's Noah Droody.

Freshman Ashley Krause gave the women's unit an unexpected boost with a second-place effort in the triple jump. Krause's last attempt of 33'7.25” fell just short of conference gold, but served as the Gators' first points of the 2012 Championship.

On the men's side, a pair of solid performances triggered more points in the team race. It took all six jumps for rookie Taylor Ordines to manufacture a personal best, but his final leap of the competition covered 41'5.75” and resulted in a fifth-place finish. Zach Hill jumped two seeds en route to sixth in the triple jump. His last two jumps were both strong as he delivered a PR of 40'9.75”.

Sophomore Kristina Martin finished seventh overall in the 5,000m with a time of 18:40.89 while freshman Andy Sharfman finished just outside of the scoring in 18:58.59.

Senior Taylor Throckmorton cruised to a victory in the prelims of the men's 400m, splitting 50.15 to produce the second-fastest time during the qualifying rounds. Throck also coasted in the prelims of the 200m, piecing together the fourth-fastest performance of the day with a time of 22.81.

Sarah Moss

Sophomore Sarah Moss earned All-Conference honors in three different events to lead Allegheny at the 2012 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships. Senior Lauren Butler was Named NCAC Field Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive campaign.

Moss began her day with a third-place finish in the high jump (4'11”), but her effort on the track was more impressive. After logging a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles to snag the final spot during Friday's prelims, Moss delivered a fantastic result in the championship final after finishing third with a time of 9.70. She capped her break-out day by closing second overall in the 400m behind another new personal best (1:00.65).

Outside of Moss, the Gators received the rest of their firepower in the weight. Senior Lauren Butler, who made conference history on Friday by winning her fourth consecutive shot put title, finished second in the weight with a throw of 44'4”.  Although Butler paced Allegheny's throwing contingent, freshman Alexa Mochan provided the meet's biggest surprise. Mochan unleashed an enormous personal best while grabbing a surprising third in the weight with a mark of 43'4.25.” The result marked the fourth-best performance ever in the event by an Allegheny athlete.  Tova Feinberg also picked up a point for the Blue and Gold after finishing eighth in the event with a toss of 41'0.5”.

Lauren Butler and Taylor Throckmorton

Senior Taylor Throckmorton set the conference record in the 400-meter dash to lead a strong performance by Allegheny on the last day of the NCAC Indoor Championships. Throckmorton was named NCAC Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year and the Gators finished third overall.  Taylor split 49.32 in the open quarter, holding off Ohio Wesleyan's Ethan Freet (49.59) in a fantastic finish en route to his first individual league crown . Both competitors eclipsed one of the conference's oldest records which had stood since 1999.  Throckmorton settled for runner-up honors in the 200m in another tight final. Silas Jolliff broke the tape with a time of 22.42, while Throckmorton finished just back in 22.47.  Taylor also anchored Allegheny's fourth-place 4x400-meter relay, which included Zach Hill, Mike Vlah, and Asher Sells running to a time of 3:31.02. He finished a great all-around day with a fourth-place finish in the long jump (20'10.75”) and extended his career All-Conference total to 13 honors.

Bobby Over emerged out a congested 5,000-meter final on Friday with his first league title and pieced together another strong effort in the 3,000m on Saturday. Denison All-American Makorodondo Salukombo made up for a second-place finish in the mile to pull away from Over late in a race that featured on the meet's deepest fields. Salukombo knocked Allegheny's Ryan Place from the league records books after splitting 8:33.45 while Over finished second for the Gators in 8:39.63. Although they finished outside of the scoring, Kevin Edwards (8:59.73) and Patrick McLaughlin (9:00.31) battled hard as well.

Michael Petro

The 3k wasn't the only event on Saturday to eliminate a former Gator from the top of the league's all-time charts. Tony Dipre's 2010 record in the mile fell as Wabash's Kevin McCarthy blasted away from the pack en route to a time of 4:10.46. Junior Mike Vlah established an indoor PR with a clip of 4:20.76 to finish eighth in the race.

Other notable performances came from rookie Nathan Taggart, who finished sixth in the high jump (5'10.75”) and freshman Michael Petro, who finished ninth overall in the weight behind a huge personal best (41'1.5”).

Freshman Perspective (Ashley Krause)

It has been awhile since our last post for the ACTF/XC blog and I thought it would be nice for one of our freshmen standouts Ashley Krause to write a post on how her year has been so far. So, hailing from Mars Area, PA, our All-Conference Triple Jumper.

Being a freshman in college, I thought that college track was going to be so much harder than high school track, and that it would consume all of my time here on campus.  While yes, the practices are harder, it is also a very rewarding feeling once you have a meet and realize that your times are dropping, your jump distances are increasing, or your throws are going farther.  Coming into the track season this year, I knew I wanted to long jump and sprint.  However, at our Indoor Championships, my coaches entered me into triple jump which I have not done in two years.  I was glad they did this because I ended up placing second in the meet.  Throughout practices, sometimes I feel like I might not be able to finish them on my own.  But Dominique Billingslea is always right there by my side keeping my spirits up and allowing me to gain that energy I need to finish.  She had competed this weekend at Washington and Jefferson, achieving a personal record in the 400 m dash with a time of 63.45 s, finishing with a third place overall.  Sarah Moss also had a great day at Washington and Jefferson, where she had tied for first place with a height of 5'4.25.  Everyone is so encouraging on this team towards each other, during practices and at meets.  I love being part of a team where they're not just your teammates, they're family.