Bloomsburg Track and Field Prepares for PSAC Championships

BLOOMSBURG -- The Bloomsburg University men's and women's track and field teams will compete in the 2006 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships this weekend at California (PA). The Huskies will be represented by seven women and seven men competing in 13 events.

Head Coach Karen Brandt is already proud of the season that her team had, even without taking into account the results of this weekend's meet.

"It's been a really good season and we are proud of all the athletes, regardless of whether they qualified for the conference championship or not," said Brandt. "Many athletes who didn't qualify to represent the University still ran a lifetime personal best time which is a testament to their hard work and the strength of the program. "

On the women's side, Connie Raineri (Gilbertville/St. Pius X) will represent the team in three events, including the only field event for the Huskies, the long jump. She qualified for the event jumping 17' 7" in a second place finish at Susquehanna and has the eighth highest jump among PSAC athletes.

In track, Raineri will run the 200-meter and the 400-meter dash. Her top time in both events came at the Bison Classic in April where she ran 26.32 in the 200 and 58.37 in the 400. Her 400 time is the third fastest in the PSAC this season. In track, Raineri will run the 200-meter and the 400-meter dash. Her top time in both events came at the Bison Classic in April where she ran 26.32 in the 200 and 58.37 in the 400. Her 400 time is the third fastest in the PSAC this season.

Running the 3,000-meter event for Bloomsburg are Beth Schwing (Hershey/Lower Dauphin), Amber Hackenberg (Middleburg/Middleburg), and Mary Bacher (New Tripoli/Central Catholic). Schwing won the event at East Stroudsburg, improving her qualifying time to 10:25.26. Hackenberg and Bacher both qualified at the PSAC East Challenge Meet, with Hackenberg running 10:32.3 and Bacher finishing in 10:51.69.

The Huskies will be well-represented in the 5,000-meters, with five runners qualifying for the event. Hackenberg has the top time for Bloomsburg and the third fastest in the PSAC, running 17:41.26 at the Bison Distance Carnival. She will be joined by Schwing who ran 17:49.37 at the Raleigh Relays, Sarah Bounds (Shippensburg/Shippensburg), who qualified at the Ram Invitational with an 18:28.19, Karen Hause (Central Columbia), who finished in 19:15.51, also at the Ram Invitational and Toni Zangari (Sunbury/Shikellamy) who ran 19:02.24 at Susquehanna.

Zangari and Bounds will also compete in the 10,000-meter event. Bounds has the top time for both the Huskies and the entire conference with a 38:03.98 at Susquehanna in March. Zangari qualified at the Bison Distance Carnival in 39:26.61which is 10th in the PSAC.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Mary Bacher (New Tripoli/Central Catholic) will be a top contender for Bloomsburg. She qualified for the event with a win at the Big Red Invitational at Cornell University in 11:17.71 which is the third fastest time in the PSAC this season. Her time also provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Championships.

For the Bloomsburg men, Greg McGhee (Philadelphia/Cheltenham) will compete in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. In 2004, McGhee won the 200 at the indoor championships, while in 2005 he suffered a hamstring injury in the event outdoors. McGhee qualified for both events at the PSAC East Challenge, running the 100 in 11.27 and the 200 in a time of 22.62.

Dave Sanford (Nescopeck/Central Columbia) will also compete in two events for the Huskies. He qualified for the 1,500-meter event at Susquehanna in 3:58.71 and will look to improve on his seventh place finish in last year's race. Sanford will also run the 800-meters, qualifying for the event at the Bison Open in 1:56.68. He will be joined by teammate Dan Tallarico (Pittsburgh/North Hills) who qualified with a 1:56.94 at the East Stroudsburg Invitational.

Representing Bloomsburg in the 5,000-meter event will be cross country All-American Justin Shepherd (Cranberry Twp./Seneca Valley), Mike Espinosa (Media/Penncrest), and Dan Ezzi (Mechanicsburg/Mechanicsburg). Shepherd's top time this season came at the Ram Invitational where his 15:09.17 gave him sixth place out of 48 runners. Espinosa and Ezzi both qualified at the Bison Distance Carnival, running times of 15:30.99 and 15:34.23, respectively.

Rounding out the competition for the Huskies is Mikhail Litvinov (Drums/Hazleton) who will run the 10,000 meters at his first ever PSAC Championships. He qualified for the event at the Bison Distance Carnival with a time of 32:33.98.

The 100-meter Heptathlon and Decathlon events will take place on Thursday May 3rd, but the majority of the competition will take place on Friday, May 4th from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 5th from 11 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Results will be available on California's site at: http://sai.cup.edu/calsports/champ/track/.