Lewisburg, PA – The Houghton track & field teams send a small contingent of its top distance runners to Bucknell University to compete on Friday afternoon and evening. Tabitha Clark competed in the 1,500m while Rachel Domaracki, Dave Russo, Dillon Bell, and Seth Greene competed in the 5,000m run.
 
Tabitha Clark competed in the first race of the afternoon on Friday. She immediately took the lead in her heat. She settled in after an 80 second first lap, tight on the leaders. After two more laps of 82, and 80, she gave chase to the two girls in front. She closed in 59 seconds for the last 300m to run a huge, 8 second PR of 5:03.61. This time is the fourth fastest in the Empire 8 this year. At 4:40pm, Rachel Domaracki took to the line in the 5,000m run. She ran her first 1600m in 5:57, well on pace for a PR. The heat did take its toll in the middle, but Rachel had a furious last lap of 79 seconds to break 19:00 for the first time. Her time of 18:56.44 is the second fastest time in the Empire 8 this year, and the 10^th fastest time in school history.
 
The men's 5,000m went off at 5:20pm. The heat was heavy, but the men raced hard. Dave Russo held tight on the lead pack, from the get go, with Dillon Bell and Seth Greene close behind. Dave went through 3200m (just short of two miles) in 9:53, with Dillon and Dave at 9:59. Dave surged to the lead of his heat to maintain fast pace. He ran his second fastest time ever of 15:37.11. Dillon came through at 16:01.88. The heat took it's toll on Seth the last 800m, but fought tooth and nail to get across the finish line.
 
Tomorrow, these athletes will race again in various distance events. Six other Highlanders will also make the trip down to compete on the track, and in the high jump.