Marauders gearing up for home stretch with Millersville Invite

Saturday, April 19

Biemesderfer Stadium

9:30 AM

Millersville University

Millersville Invite

Marauders gearing up for home stretch with Millersville Invite

4/18/2025 12:51:00 PM | Women's Outdoor Track and Field

By: Connor Glunt, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The Marauders are ready to host their second and final home meet of the season, the Millersville Invite.

With three meets left on the schedule, Millersville is getting close to the point in its season where the Marauders ramp up their performances peak in time for the conference championships. Up to this point, head coach Andy Young said he feels good about where his team stands with a few more tune-ups remaining.

"I think we're doing a lot better right now than we were a few weeks ago. It's been nice to see some good performances at Bucknell, and our field event athletes have been doing really well throughout the semester. Megan actually hit something yesterday which was good. So I think we're starting to kind of find our rhythm a little bit right now.

Leading the way so far this season for 'Ville has been its throwers, headlined by Sarah Hessler. Hessler has PSAC marks in the discus, shot put, and hammer throw, including NCAA provisional marks in the first two. The Marauders own a nice piece of real estate atop the conference leaderboard in the throws events, as Maddy Downs and Seya Trujillo are right up there with Hessler, and the trio of Annika Gunderson, Erin Krauss, and Mikaela Wolf have earned PSAC bids in the javelin. Young has been impressed with his group's performance given the competition across the conference.

"It is a tough conference, but it's pretty neat to have a bunch of the top discus and hammer throwers, and one of the top shot putters in there too. But when it comes down to it, you have to show up on the championship day," Young said. "I think for Sarah, she's been working on her confidence and not getting in her head or anything like that. It's been a big thing for her, and I'd say the same for Maddie and Seya. They're trying to do the same thing, managing expectations, staying calm and relaxed, and just throw the way that they know they're capable of. But there's some really good other athletes out there in the conference, so as the season progresses you know they'll have their work cut out for them."

Millersville is competing in its second of two meets this week, having already punched conference bids earlier at the Shippensburg Invite. The Marauders got a breakthrough performance from Megan Malecki, who jumped up the leaderboards to second place in the PSAC. The senior earned All-PSAC last spring and this winter, and Young said she may be finding her game at the perfect time.

"I think she was getting really frustrated and I think she's really happy right now that she's kind of hitting the heights that she knew she could. So hopefully that just keeps building," Young said. "She had some great attempts at some higher heights that were pretty impressive, so we'll see."

On the track side of things, 'Ville is still looking for its first 200-meter dash qualifier, but have had strong performances across the other sprint, mid-distance, and distance events. The weather is lining up perfectly for the short distance runners this weekend, and Young is hopeful he'll see some additional breakouts to bolster their conference championship group.

"I think our sprints group is really starting to find its groove," Young said. "Our 400-meter dash runners and some of our sprinters did really well at Bucknell, we'll get to see them back I action this week. I think they're going to be really ready to go and the 80-degrees weather will help them too."

The Marauders know what the end goal is: a top finish at the PSAC Outdoor Championships. In order to make that happen, it'll take a focused effort down the stretch to make sure the team is at its best in early May.

"A lot of these meets aside from maybe Bucknell are train-through meets, including probably this one," Young said. "We're not necessarily detraining; we're just still training hard. So I would tell you the best will show up at that PSAC meet, they'll be the readiest to go. That's by design with our lifting program, with coach Weiser, and with all the other different programs. With all of us as coaches, we know, and so do the kids, that's the peak period. These are just way points along the way to find out where we're at."

Competition begins at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning at Biemesderfer Stadium.