ESU’s Eidson a natural in steeplechase
Boone grad wins first time competing in event
RACHEL EIDSON (DANIEL
BOONE) >> East Stroudsburg freshman Rachel Eidson competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the first time in her college career and came away a winner.
Eidson (Daniel Boone) took the Division IIIII steeplechase at Lafayette’s 7-Way Invitational on March 25 in Easton. Her time of 12:20.49 would have won the Division I race.
“Rachel has been a really nice surprise,” cross country and distance coach Joe Koch said. “She had a good cross country season and in the last three or four indoor meets, she really started to develop and drop her times further.”
The coach was impressed with Eidson’s performance at Lafayette.
“She had an outstanding debut and it’s quite an accomplishment to win your first race,” Koch said. “Rachel has an unbelievable future in the steeplechase.”
Eidson opened the outdoor season by finishing 46th in the 1,500-meter run at Charlotte’s 49ers Classic on March 18 in Charlotte, N.C. with a time of 5:02.80. That was also her first collegiate 1,500 after competing mainly in the 800, 1,000 and mile indoors this past winter. DEREK STUMP (EXETER) >> The 5-foot-6, 165-pound senior midfielder has a team-high 21 assists for the Albright men’s lacrosse team. He also has scored seven goals for 28 points and has 15 ground balls and four caused turnovers. Stump had three goals and six assists in a 14-8 victory over Delaware Valley on March 25 in Doylestown and came back with a goal and five assists in a 12-11 triumph over Lycoming in the team’s MAC Commonwealth opener on March 29 in Reading to give the Lions a 3-4 overall
XAVIER SMITH (DANIEL
BOONE) >> The junior kicked off the outdoor season with the Penn State men’s track team by capturing the 100 meters at the Pac 12-Big 10 Invitational on March 24-25 in Tempe, Ariz. His time was a personal best 10.47. He ran a leg on the 4x100 relay which finished first in a time of 39.65. Smith also finished sixth in the 200 meters in 21.29. He finished fourth in the 100 (10.59) at last
year’s Pac 12-Big 10 meet and the 4x100 finished second (39.92). REID HOFF (GOVERNOR MIFFLIN) >> The sophomore is having a solid spring playing with the Alvernia men’s tennis team which is 3-0 after victories over Immaculata (8-1), Summit (9-0) and Neumann (8-1). Hoff is 3-0 playing either No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles and 3-0 competing at No. 2 or No. 3 doubles. He was 2-3 in doubles and 1-5 in singles during the fall season. The Crusaders are 6-2 in matches during both the fall and spring seasons. JONATHAN BIEBER (EXETER)
>> The Albright junior earned a pair of top five finishes in the seasonopening Golden Ram Invitational on March 25 in West Chester. Bieber finished second in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 58.32 and was fifth in the 110 meter hurdles in 16.14. Both times lead the Middle Atlantic Conference performance list. Beiber finished first in both hurdles (15.63 in the 110 and 54.83 in the 400) at the MAC Outdoor Championships as a sophomore and was fifth in the 400 hurdles (57.34) as a freshman. SAM LICHTNER (TWIN VALLEY)
>> The senior righthander is 5-5 with a 3.97 earned run average for the 8-18 Mount St. Mary’s softball team. She’s pitched in 14 games with 12 starts and in 67 innings has given up 84 hits and 46 runs, 38 earned, with 41 walks and 34 strikeouts. In her latest start, she pitched a complete game 4-1 victory over Coppin State on March 29 in Emmitsburg, Md. In seven innings, she gave up six hits, an earned run with two walks and two strikeouts. She’s pitched in 78 games with 48 starts and is 19-30 for her career with 170 strikeouts for The
Mount. ROSS PILLIOD (BERKS CATHOLIC) >> The sophomore from Reading has been the top finisher for the St. Joseph’s men’s golf team’s first two matches of the spring. He tied for 31st in Villanova’s Wildcat Invitational March 27-28 in Malvern with a five-over-par 74-73—147. The Hawks tied for 13th. On March 18-19, Pilliod tied for 39th at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla. with a 230 total on rounds of 74, 77 and 79. St. Joseph’s finished 15th out of 17 teams. MARY KATE DUNCAN (BERKS
CATHOLIC) >> The Moravian junior captured the javelin throw at Lafayette’s 7-Way Invitational on March 25 in Easton. Competing in the Division II-III meet, Duncan hit 141 feet, 2 inches beat the runner-up by almost 18 feet. She would have won the Division I javelin. The effort was an ECAC Division III qualifying distance and was the second best in the Landmark Conference thus far this season. Duncan, from Reading, finished fifth in the javelin at the NCAA Division III Championships (145 feet) last year as a sophomore.