Indoor Track to Compete in PSAC Championships

BLOOMSBURG - The Bloomsburg University indoor track team will travel to East Stroudsburg on Saturday to compete in the 2006 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships.

The Huskies are sending eight men and 11 women to the championships.

For the men, Greg McGhee (Philadelphia/Cheltenham) will compete in the 55 and 200-meter events. In 2004, McGhee won both events, while at last year's championships, he took fifth in the 55-meter race and third in the 200 meters. McGhee recorded a 55-meter qualifying time of 6.68 at the Susquehanna meet and posted his 200-meter qualifying time at the East Challenge race where he ran a 22.96.

Although his times aren't at the same place they were last season, head coach Karen Brandt has no doubt that McGhee has a chance to have success at this year's meet.

"I think he is in very good shape and ready to break out some quality times this weekend," she said. "He is very focused and goal-oriented and, he doesn't set low goals for himself."

In the 800-meters, Dan Tallarico (Pittsburgh/North Hills) will compete in his first PSAC Championship Meet after qualifying for the event at the DeShriver Invitational with a time of 1:59.8.

"In the 800, he has run a time indoors equal to his lifetime PR outdoors, which he did in May of his senior year of high school," Brandt said. "This is his first track season with us and we are very happy to see him progressing so well. His cross country mileage and increased confidence have played a big part in getting him to the championships."

In the one-mile race, Dave Sanford (Nescopeck/Central Columbia) and Dan Ezzi (Mechanicsburg/ Mechanicsburg) will compete for the Huskies. Sanford ran a 4:22.5 at the Bison Open to qualify in the event, while Ezzi ran a 4:32.3 at Susquehanna to make the trip to the championships.

"Dave has done a lot of miles in training and has raced the 5000 and 3000 to add physical, mental and emotional strength to his racing skills," Brandt said. "When he takes the track in the mile, he should know that he has the endurance and stamina to hold his speed and that he doesn't have to run a 'come-from-behind' race."

Ezzi, despite missing training time, was able to get his time down to make the meet.

"Dan Ezzi had a tough semester break with interrupted training which put him seriously behind schedule for this indoor season," Brandt said. "His first mile this year was 4:43 which he brought down to the qualifying time of 4:32. A lot of hard work trying to catch up on conditioning as well as staying extremely focused and tough during races has helped him to find his natural talent despite the missed training."

In the longer distances, the Huskies will race Mike Espinosa (Media/Penncrest) and Sanford in the 3,000, while in the 5,000-meters, cross country All-American Justin Shepherd (Cranberry Twp./Seneca Valley) will compete along with Tim Marcoe (Lansdale/Lansdale Catholic) and Espinosa.

Sanford ran an 8:54.1 at the DeShriver Invitational. For Espinosa, he ran his 3,000-meter qualifying time at the DeShriver Invitational in 8:59.6, while in the 5,000 he ran a 15:50.9 at the East Challenge Meet to earn the spot at PSACs.

"He needs to forget about the 3000 while he's racing the 5000 and just dig in to the laps and the pain and go for it," Brandt said. "He's capable of much faster than the 15:50 that got him to conference and if he goes for it he can get those minutes off his time."

Shepherd, following the long cross country season, decreased his mileage over winter break, but came back this semester ready to go to work.

"He didn't get in the mileage over the break necessary to put him in top form for this indoor campaign and posted only the 12th fastest time in the conference so he has a lot of work cut out for himself," Brandt said. "He has been working quite hard since the semester started and during last week's very tough week of workouts looked quite strong. He could be a real surprise to the conference."

Marcoe will compete in his first indoor championships following a qualifying performance of 15:59.0 at Susquehanna.

"Tim just broke the 16:00 qualifying mark," Brandt said. "His goal is to better his time of 15:59. Tim's a tough guy who gives everything he has during a race."

In the relays, the men will send one team in the 4,000-meter distance medley event, going in fifth out of 11 teams, three seconds behind Kutztown's team. Ezzi will run the opening 1,200-meter leg, followed by Jesse Motko (Long Pond/Pocono Mountain West) who will run the 400-meter leg. The third leg, 800 meters, will be run by Tallarico, and Sandford will run the anchor 1,600-meter leg.

"Dan's continuing to improve his speed and endurance and should set us up well for the 400 meter handoff to Jesse Motko whose 52-second speed should keep us in the mix for Dan's leg," Brandt said. Dan's run sub 2:00 for the 800 and on fresh legs could go 1:57-1:58 for us in this relay."

Brandt's confident in Sanford's ability as the anchor runner, as well.

"He has good strength and speed and with the efforts of the three men before him should carry us to a quality time," she said. "Our goal is to get the DMR on the podium, hopefully within the top three to four places."

For the women, Connie Raineri (Gilbertville/St. Pius X) is the lone participant in the field side of events as she will compete in the long jump. Raineri recorded her qualifying jump at the DeShriver Invitational with a distance of 16' 7.5", ranking her 12th going into the event.

"I know she's not feeling as much pressure as she sometimes does in invitationals," Brandt said. "I think that relaxation will help her surpass her best mark this season."

Raineri will also race the 400 meters after recording a 1:00.6 at the Susquehanna Invitational. Last weekend, she was on pace to break 60 seconds and Brandt believes she'll do so this weekend.

"She'd wrenched her back the previous meet at Kutztown and still wasn't 100-percent," Brandt said. "She blistered the first 200 in 28.6. If she opens that way on Saturday and comes back with a 30-second second 200, she'll be over the moon with joy, as will her coach."

According to Brandt, Raineri has done an exceptional job balancing the two events, as they require different preparation.

"Her two events are a real paradox in that she has to stay really loose and relaxed for the jump but has to be really pumped up and aggressive for the 400," Brandt said. "She has done a good job all season balancing those conflicts and I'm confident she will continue to do so over the weekend. She's accepted that she is a quality 400 runner, not a 100/200 runner and has embraced the work and pain that go with the quarter mile race. She's a tough woman who will wring out her best on race day."

Beth Schwing (Hershey/Lower Dauphin) will be the lone Husky participating in the 800 meters following a PSAC-qualifying time of 2:27.7 at the DeShriver Invitational.

Schwing will also compete in the 3,000-meter race, along with Sarah Bounds (Shippensburg/ Shippensburg), NCAA cross country qualifier Amber Hackenberg (Middleburg/Middleburg), Shannon Hoffman (Watstontown/Warrior Run), Toni Zangari (Sunbury/Shikellamy) and Mary Bacher (New Tripoli/Central Catholic).

Schwing recorded a qualifying time of 10:28.2, despite having very little indoor track experience.

"Beth's coming in with the 4th best time in the conference, only nine seconds off the leading time," Brandt said. "This will be only her third time running the 3,000. She has not been pushed in her other two races but has gone out and destroyed the fields on her own. She is really excited about having competition and feels confident she has more time to take off when she's actually racing others."

Hackenberg and Bacher both qualified in the Bison Open with times of 10:48.0 and 10:56.3 respectively, while Bounds qualified at the DeShriver Invitational in 10:46.3. Although they will be competing in the 3,000-meters after they run the 5,000-meter event, Brandt expects they will post quality times.

"They are tough women who are competitive," she said. "If they remain confident in their abilities, they will do well."

Their teammates Hoffman and Zangari, who will both race in the 3,000 meters, will be on fresh legs and are expected to improve their times. Hoffman, a freshman, qualified at the Bison Open in 10:54.6 while Zangari, who qualified at Susquehanna, is a senior making her first appearance at the PSAC Championships. Brandt is especially pleased over Zangari's qualifying performance.

"We are particularly happy that Toni will be representing the team/school this weekend. She is a senior and it is the first time she has qualified for the championships," Brandt said. "She's had the ability; she just hasn't had the confidence to allow herself to run to her capabilities."

In the 5,000 meters, four women will represent the Huskies.

Hackenberg, who qualified for nationals in cross country, had a rough indoor season but Brandt feels her recent workouts have shown improvement.

"She ran only 18:48 to qualify and while it is well below the qualifying time of 19:24, it is also well off Amber's capabilities," Brandt said. "She needs to get down to business on Saturday and go with the women that she has the right to be racing with."

Karen Hause (Bloomsburg/Central Columbia), Bounds, and Bacher will also contest the 5,000.

"Sarah has every right to expect that she can run to a podium position," Brandt said. "She did not run cross country with us this past season but did work really hard throughout the fall and came back just about where she left off her last track season."

Bacher got her 5,000 qualifier in last weekend's Susquehanna meet, a feat in which Brandt is very proud.

"She could have stayed home last Friday night because racing at Susquehanna was an option for her. Instead, she chose to give up a Friday night to race," Brandt said. "Not only did she win the race, she lapped the entire field except for her teammate, Hoffman, who finished second"

Brandt said Bacher pushed herself during the race, earning the qualifier in 19:21.0, three seconds under the PSAC requirement.

"Mary kept pushing her pace and willing herself to keep on qualifying time," Brandt said. "She was tiring with about six laps to go but found that extra drive to push her time under the qualifier in the last two laps. She collapsed on the track afterward and told me she hated this race distance but I know deep inside she was really proud of herself."

Hause, the Huskies' final representative in the race, ran her qualifier at the East Challenge meet in 19:13.8.

"Karen Hause was also one of those qualifiers who had to win her race by herself at Kutztown- this is not the easier way to run a good race when you have no one close to you to race with," Brandt said. "In the larger, more competitive field of the conference race, Karen should be able to relax and let herself go to a time closer to 19-flat. She has the capability to run that sort of time or faster and we are confident she can and will do it."

In the relays, the Huskies will contest both the 4 x 400 and the 4,000-meter distance medley relay.

In the 4 x 400, Kate Conlon (Inkerman/Pittston Area), Laura Duceman (Mt. Carmel/Mt. Carmel), Christa Johnson (Nescopeck/Berwick) and Schwing will run for the Huskies. The team ran their qualifier at the Bison Open in a time of 4:32.48.

The distance medley relay will be composed of Conlon, Duceman, Johnson and Schwing, a team that qualified with a time of 12:54. Conlon will run the 1,200-meter distance, Duceman will be at the 400, while Johnson will run the 800-meter leg. The mile anchor will be Schwing.

"We have a foursome that should improve upon their 12:54 performance time which is the 4th fastest in the conference," Brandt said. "Like the men, this team has a good chance of being on the podium."

The competition will run Saturday from 2 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the running and jumping events held in the Koehler Fieldhouse at East Stroudsburg.