men’s relay team wins gold

Udis has been part of five gold-medal-winning 4x800 relay teams, three indoors and two outdoors.

Freshman Jenna Schaffer qualified for the finals in both the 100 and 200.

On the first full day of the Centennial Conference Championships, the Muhlenberg track and field teams saved the best for last. Or more precisely, second-to-last.

A courageous performance by senior Stuart Udis in the last event of the day, the men's 4x800 relay, led to the only gold medal of the day for the Mules. Both Muhlenberg teams entered the final day of competition in fifth place.

Udis hadn't run in two weeks due to an injury that caused him to bypass the open 800, an event he won at the CC meet outdoors in 2007 and indoors in 2008. He ran the third leg of the 4x800 instead of the anchor and took the baton from senior David Chorney in a distant second place. Despite his visible discomfort, Udis ran a blistering split of 1:52.63, smoking past the front-runner from Haverford.

After handing the baton to sophomore Bobby Torphy, Udis collapsed on the infield and remained face down in the grass as Torphy finished up the gold-medal performance. The quartet's time of 7:48.21 was the second-fastest in school history.

Two Mules won silver medals. Chorney, the favorite in the steeplechase, had

Freshman Michael Baer (left) and junior Matt Stein (right) run in adjacent lanes in a qualifying heat of the 110 high hurdles. Stein made the final in the 400 intermediate hurdles.

to settle for second place despite hitting the NCAA provisional mark. Freshman Marc Brookland won a silver in the long jump with a personal-best distance of 21-10.

Muhlenberg qualified at least one athlete for the final in all 12 events for which there were trials. Junior Alex Faust posted the fastest preliminary time (57.93) in the 400 meters, breaking her own school record. The men's team had three athletes - junior Jeremiah Lachaud (100 and 200), junior Brendan Kirk (110 hurdles and 400 hurdles) and freshman Peter Rice (200 and 400) - qualify for finals in two events.
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Click here for complete results.