The Muhlenberg indoor track and field teams have high aspirations going into the weekend’s Centennial Conference Indoor Championships. The women’s team

At 1:03.04, Seiler has run the second-fastest 400 in the CC this winter.

is poised for its best performance ever, and the men will look to maintain their position as one of the conference’s top two squads.

The first day of competition at Haverford’s Alumni Fieldhouse will begin Saturday at 11:00 a.m. CC titles in the long jump; pole vault; 1,500 meters; distance medley relay; 3,000 meters and 4x200-meter relay will be awarded on the first day. Sunday’s events start at 10:00 and will determine conference champions in all the other events.

“We train in different meets and don’t see a lot of the other teams in the conference,” said men’s senior captain Rob Uniszkiewicz. “We’re all coming up to this meet and we’ve all got bulls-eyes on each other’s backs. It’s our one chance to all go head-to-head with each other.”

The Mule women had their best finish ever in last year’s meet, finishing fifth. That squad returned virtually intact and added a strong group of freshman. The Mules are a much more complete team this time around, which should result in an even better CC showing.

“We’ve been getting better every meet and are really excited about how we’ve been progressing,” said junior pole vaulter Meghan Douglas-Snyder, the two-time defending CC indoor champion. “We’ve certainly got the ability; everyone’s just got to show up and do what they can.”

The biggest difference for the Mule women is in the field events. Douglas-Snyder and junior Kristin Boydston, who finished second in the shot put, were among just three 2003 ’Berg placewinners in field events. Muhlenberg has 11 top-six seeds in those events this year.

Leading the way is Jacquelyn Inverso. The freshman has set two school records this winter, including the CC’s longest triple jump of the season. She is also seeded second in the long jump, third in the high jump and seventh in the 55-meter hurdles.

The list of other freshmen who could make an impact includes Rachel Drosdick (high jump, hurdles), Lily Hatfield (long jump, triple jump, 200 meters) and Hilary Blum (shot put).

With the exception of the hurdles, where Inverso and Drosdick will join junior Ashlie Hankee in the hunt for points, Muhlenberg will be led by veterans in the running events.

Sophomore Danielle Seiler placed second in the 400 and sixth in the 200 last year. She is one of six runners back from the four Mule relay teams that set school records at CCs last season. Two of those teams finished second.

Senior Diana Garretto, junior Samantha Sachleben and sophomore Karen Mount will contribute in the relays and could score points individually as well. The Mules hope to challenge five-time defending champion Dickinson and Haverford for the top spots in the conference in the first meet of the season with a team score.

“Conference is always fun because it’s more of a team event,” said Douglas-Snyder. “Everybody’s up, watching everything, running around and talking about who did what.”

Boyer placed fourth in the triple jump, fifth in the high jump and seventh in the long jump in the 2003 meet.

The men are coming off an outstanding second-place showing (behind perennial champion Haverford) at last season’s CC indoors. They feel ready to defend that spot, especially after a strong showing last week at the Keogh Invitational in the same Haverford field house.

“We’ve been training through a lot of meets, but I think last week people saw that Muhlenberg is in the hunt too,” said Uniszkiewicz, who finished fifth in the 3,000 and 5,000 last year. “It’s given our team a little excitement and something to look forward to this weekend. It’s going to be competitive.”

Uniszkiewicz will be competing in the 1,500 instead of the 3,000 this year and is seeded fifth. Freshman Lex Mercado will stick to the shorter distances. He has run times among the CC’s best in the 400 and 800 meters.

In the sprints, the Mules will look to Kyle Douglass, who has come on strong late in the season and will compete at 55 and 200 meters. Muhlenberg lost some of the keys to its relay teams that finished no worse than second in last year’s meet. Douglass, Mercado and senior Ben Phillips will be some of the runners trying to step up and win those points again.

Junior John Brodowski and senior Joshua Boyer each placed in three events a year ago, including the first and fifth spots in the high jump. They have both battled injuries this winter, but are capable of scoring major points.

The Mules are strong in the other field events as well. Senior Matt Frye could compete for the pole vault title. Senior Frank Santini, the defending champion, and freshman Andy Wilkins lead a deep group that could make the shot put Muhlenberg’s highest-scoring event.

If Uniszkiewicz is right, the Mules are set for a successful weekend.

“We’ve been peaking for conference,” he said. “This is going to be our best meet by far.”