This past weekend, the Michigan State Running Club traveled all the way to State College, Pennsylvania to compete in the 2nd Annual Happy Valley Invitational, hosted by Penn State.  What was basically a dual meet last year between Penn State and Michigan has grown into a large club invitational which hosted close to ten teams from all around the East Coast and the Midwest.

The meet started off with the Half Distance Medley Relay (600-200-400-800), a peculiar distance which the Spartans adapted to nonetheless.  Tarah Thompson led off the 600 leg in 1:50.7 and handed off to Megan McNitt, who busted out a 33.1 second 200.  Kathryn Dugal (70.3) and Stephanie Schmidt (2:33) maintained their legs to finish well in their heat.  A few minutes later, the men's team of Ben Lambert (1:29.9), Andrew Crechiolo (25.1), Colin Riley (58.0), and Adam Terwillegar (2:10) finished 3rd in their heat.

The Spartans showcased some great talent in the Mile Run, starting off with the women.  Steph, Christina Casali, and Tarah took it out hard and dictated the pace through the first 800 (2:46-2:51).  After that, a couple MRun girls moved up with Steph on their heels.  Despite a late kick, Steph settled for a still great 3rd place in 5:29, PR'ing by over half a minute.  Christina ran 5:51 and Tarah finished in 6:05.  Jeff Girbach and Ryan Squanda struggled a little in their heat, finishing in 4:49 and 5:16 respectively.  In the fast heat, Adam Terwillegar powered his way to a new club record of 4:36.94 for another 3rd place finish.  He did this in negative splits (2:20, 2:16).

Competing well in his heat, Ben Lambert set a new record of 55.28 in the 400.

The women's 800 saw the club's highest finisher all day with Megan McNitt's 2nd place finish.  Her 2:40.7 is ten seconds faster from her last race at SVSU.  Tarah was just behind her in 2:44.3.  Ryan returned for the Men's 800 to run 2:22.  Andrew Crechiolo took it out hard in his heat, just fading slightly to finish in 2:07.6.  In the fast heat, Josh Klebba hung onto the blistering pace to finish in 2:02.56, a new club record and the fastest 800 time this year by five seconds.

Adam and Jeff returned in the 3000, running very different races.  Adam took it out fast, essentially running by himself after the 800.  He hit the mile in 4:56 and finished in 9:26, a huge 26 second drop from SVSU.  Jeff went out more conservatively, passing the mile in 5:05 and maintaining even pace to run 9:32, a season best.  They finished 2nd and 3rd in their heat.  In the fast heat, Chase Taylor hit the mile close to 5 minutes with the pack and battled to maintain contact in the second half.  He finished in 9:44.

Closing out the meet as usual was the 4x400 Relay.  Steph, Kathryn, Tarah, and Christina all split between 68 and 72 seconds for their legs to finish 4th and set a new club record by 8 seconds (4:43).  The men's B team of Jeff, Colin, Ryan, and Chase ran 4:06 in the second heat. The A team of Ben, Adam, Josh, and Andrew finished in 3:47.

All in all, 6 club records were reset in State College last Saturday, with a few more performances not far off.  Next up for MSU RC is a varsity tune-up at Grand Valley this Friday, followed next week by the most important meet of the indoor season, the Illinois Club Relays.  The Spartans will look to compete in every event they enter in against some great competition from around the Midwest, namely Illinois, Indiana, and MRun.  Who knows, maybe they'll take down 7 records next time!

- Colin Riley, 2/13/13