Widener's men's track and field team closed second at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships, the women ended fifth and freshman Tyler Schmalhofer (Elizabethtown, PA) was picked the Men's Rookie of the Meet.

 

Schmalhofer was part of two Widener victories to duplicate his Indoor Rookie of the Meet honor from this winter. He won the 400-meter dash, just like at the MAC Indoor Championships, by stopping the clock in 50.35 seconds. Schmalhofer also was part of the winning 4x400-meter relay team that won in 3:25.89 and also included senior Mark Benedetto (Vineland, NJ), sophomore Nicholas Dolhancryk (East Lansdowne, PA) and freshman Will Betts (Wayne, PA).

 

Schmalhofer also ended fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.47 seconds.

 

Senior Jacob Munick (Narberth, PA) broke the meet record in the hammer throw by almost three meters, winning at 56.11 meters. The 4x100-meter relay team was victorious in 42.64 seconds and included Robert Innocent (Fairfax, VA), fellow senior Kevin Franklin (Baltimore, MD), junior Emmanuel Rupert (Baltimore, MD) and sophomore Ben Petrak (Chadds Ford, PA).

 

Widener had two men's winners on Friday. Junior Michael Garrity (Briarcliffe, PA) took the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:31.75 and senior Brad Moran (Neshanic Station, NJ) won the shot put at 15.19 meters.

 

Junior Brooke McDonald (Drexel Hill, PA) was the lone women's winner, taking the pole vault Friday at 3.25 meters.

 

The men had four second-place finishers. Innocent sprinted the 100-meter dash in 10.77 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 22.11 seconds. Garrity ran the 1,500-meter run in 3:56.55 and Munick covered 42.49 meters in the discus throw.

 

Freshman Erica Szpynda (Berwick, PA) closed second in the shot put at 11.79 meters.

 

The men's squad ended with 170 points, just 13 shy of DeSales. Widener was the defending outdoor champion and has won the last two MAC indoor crowns.

 

The women recorded an impressive 62.5 points.

 

With their respective point totals, both the men's and women's teams top Swarthmore and give Widener a 10-8 victory in the “320 Challenge.” The challenge pits the schools in their shared 19 sports and the track and field points are decided at their respective conference championship meets.

 

Swarthmore competes in the Centennial Conference.

 

Widener has captured both challenges, including a 12-7 win in last season's inaugural run.