This week the team traveled up to Gettysburg College for the annual Mason Dixon Championships. The Mason Dixon conference disbanded years ago (I think 10-20), but the meet is still held annually with any former teams that want to show up in attendance. We’ve never really put much weight on the meet, although we placed fairly well this year, finishing in third out of the 10 teams in attendance.

While the team was at the meet, I was stuck here in Fredericksburg tending to my weak hamstring. I was able to get into the pool and do some swimming (200-200-400, Yes I know I’m a pathetic swimmer) as well as do some strengthening exercises in the training room. I went for a 4 mile run today, and my hamstring still didn’t feel too great, but I have a little hope that I’ll make it back and be able to run the 5k at the conference meet in 2 weeks. Stephen Harrison, another top distance guy, also missed the meet with some knee pains.

We ran our top 3 steeplers at the meet, and went 1-2-3 with Chris Marino, Jeff Branson, and Will Green taking the top spots. Chris ran a time similar to what he ran a few weeks ago at CNU, and Jeff and Will both improved by about 10 seconds from their CNU time. The steeple will be a key event at the CAC Championships, and who each school chooses to run will play a big part in how the final scores play out in the event.

A few of the 800 runners, mainly Kevin Robertson, got a chance to go head to head with defending conference champion Charles Jacobs from Frostburg State. Kevin was able to hang with Jacobs for the first 600 meters of the race, but drifted back the last 200 to finish in 3rd with a very respectable time of 1:58.

The sprinters continued their upward swing, as Matt Bechtel became our second runner of the year under 23 seconds in the 200 meter dash. They have to drop about half a second to score points at CACs, but it’s very possible and every point will count.

RESULTS- http://www.gettysburgsports.com/documents/2012/4/21/120421_TF_Mason_Dixon_Results_M.pdf?id=1072