Saturday, April 30, 2011

BETHANY, W.Va. - The Westminster College men's track and field team won its first-ever Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championship Saturday as the Westminster men's and women's track and field teams competed at the PAC Championships held Friday and Saturday at Bethany College. The Titan men placed first out of seven teams with 129 points and the Titan women, the three-time defending champions, placed second out of six teams with 146 points.

Fourth-year head coach Tim McNeil was named PAC Men's Track & Field Coach of the Year for his third coach of the year award, his first as a men's team coach.

The Westminster men have never finished higher than third at the PAC meet and no higher than fifth in the last four years including last place in McNeil's first season in 2008.

The Titan men won three events including the team's first-ever PAC title in the 4x100 meter relay with a school record time of 43.31, eclipsing the previous fastest time in team history of 43.51 from 2002. The record-breaking team consisted of freshman Zac Henry (North East, Pa./North East), junior Forrest Minteer (New Wilmington, Pa./Wilmington), freshman Shane Peterson (East Palestine, Ohio/East Palestine), and junior J.J. Faltot (Mercer, Pa./Mercer).

The other two PAC champions for the men were sophomore Adam Carswell (Painesville, Ohio/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) winning the team's first-ever PAC title in the 400 meters (49.70) and sophomore Mark Saylor (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) in the pole vault (4.6). Westminster occupied five of the top six spots in the pole vault competition. Two-time defending champion junior Caleb Smathers (Punxsutawney, Pa./Punxsutawney) and junior Jack Taylor (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth-Forward) were second and third at 4.15 meters.

Four Titan men placed second in their respective events. They included junior Ryan Bell (New Wilmington, Pa./Wilmington) in the javelin (53.84), freshman Jason Frawley (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) in the shot put (13.06), freshman Anthony Thomas (New Castle, Pa./Union) in the triple jump (13.45), and Peterson in the high jump (1.83).

On the women's side, Westminster finished 10 points behind first-place Washington & Jefferson. The Titan women won three events and finished in second place in six events.

Junior Emily Dolsak (McDonald, Ohio/McDonald) won her third straight PAC title in the discus (38.87), junior Alisha Slater (Wooster, Ohio/Norwayne) won the team's first-ever title in the long jump (5.25), and junior Merrissa Malcolm (Freeport, Pa./Freeport) won her second straight pole vault title (3.25).

Junior Mallory Mack (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) finished second in both the 100 (13.04) and 200 (26.48). The other second-place finishers were junior Tyler Dever (Salt Lake City, Utah/Highland) in the 800 (2:21.27), junior Jennifer Krueger (Adamsville, Pa./Conneaut Lake) in the 10,000 (40:38.09), freshman Allison Rice (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) in the discus (37.40) and senior Kelsie Crowder (Newton Falls, Ohio/Newton Falls) in the high jump (1.5).

Selected team members will compete at the Slippery Rock Qualifier Friday.

About Westminster College...
Founded in 1852 and related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Westminster College ranks first in the nation as "Best College for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math," according to Forbes.com. Westminster is a top tier liberal arts college, a national leader in graduation rate performance, and a "Great School, Great Price," according to U.S. News Best Colleges guide. Westminster ranked 38th among liberal arts colleges, according to the Washington Monthly College Guide, and is one of the most affordable national liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania. Westminster is also honored as one of "The Best 373 Colleges" and "Best in the Northeast" by The Princeton Review, and is named to the President's Honor Roll for excellence in service learning.

Nearly 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students benefit from individualized attention from dedicated faculty while choosing from 41 majors and nearly 100 organizations on the New Wilmington, Pa., campus. Visit www.westminster.edu/advantage to view "Advantage: Westminster" A Strategic Plan 2010-2020.