track teams in empire state of mind

Women’s Basketball Gets Help; Wrestlers Fall Women’s Basketball The Muhlenberg women’s basketball team got a huge helping hand from Johns Hopkins when the Blue Jays defeated McDaniel, 65-60. The Mules had been locked in a three-way tie for first place in the Centennial Conference with McDaniel and Gettysburg and stood to lose a tiebreaker to McDaniel for the top seed in the conference playoffs. Muhlenberg is now in a virtual tie with only Gettysburg atop the CC standings, and the two teams play tomorrow, with the winner taking over sole possession of first with a week left in the regular season. If the Mules win their final four games, they will win the CC regular-season title for the third time in five years. Wrestling The Muhlenberg wrestling team remained winless, falling at Messiah, 44-9. Freshman Tommy Gazza won for the third time in four bouts, scoring a 13-7 decision at 133, but the Mules did not win any other contested bouts and had to forfeit four weight classes. Click here for box score.

Whether it was the streets that made them feel brand new or the lights that inspired them, Muhlenberg athletes took full advantage of their annual trip to Manhattan to run at one of the fastest tracks in the country.

The Mule track and field teams broke two school records and set a host of personal records at the New York City Armory in the Lafayette Rider Winter Games.

Senior Jennifer Lynch became the first female in team history to break five minutes in the mile, crossing the finish line in 4:59.30 to smash the school record of 5:02.89 she set last year. When the conversion for a banked track is applied, Lynch’s time becomes 5:00.20, which easily clears the NCAA provisional standard of 5:05.00. As of last weekend’s meets, only six runners in Division III had run the mile faster.

Lynch, who won the mile, came back less than an hour-and-a-half later to finish fourth in the 800 with a personal-best time of 2:18.40.

Junior Bobby Torphy pulled off a similar double, winning the mile in 4:16.44 (the second-fastest time in program history and not far from the NCAA provisional standard of 4:16.00) and then running a 1:57.77 in the 800.

Sophomore Peter Rice (left) had the headline performance for the men’s team, breaking the school record in the 400 with a time of 50.15, which converts to 50.65 on a flat track. That time is within a second of the NCAA qualifying mark of 49.85.

Senior Patrick Thornton (4:27.05) and sophomore Ryan Ganley (4:27.78) also set personal records and landed in the top 10 on the Mules’ performance list in the mile.

The men’s 4x400 relay team clocked in at 3:32.54, just off its season best of 3:32.11 – not bad for a group that included first-time 400 runner Jeremiah Lachaud, a sprinter by trade who volunteered to run the longer distance when other Mules couldn’t go.

Back on the women’s side, sophomore Nicolette Miller set personal records in both the mile (5:17.44) and 800 (2:25.71). The mile time is the third-fastest in program history.

Sophomore Kimberlee Yalango clipped another three seconds off her personal best in the 800, moving into third place on the all-time performance list at 2:21.13.
Click here for complete results.