de>GETTYSBURG, Pa. The Gettysburg College women’s track and field team will be back in action for the first time in over a year this Saturday as the team will make the short drive to Carlisle, Pa. to compete at the Dickinson Invite.
The Bullets competed in six meets during the 2019-20 indoor season including the Centennial Conference championships before the outdoor season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Orange and Blue saw nine new entries into the program’s top-10 indoor list and placed ninth at the conference championship.
When it comes to training, the Bullets normally have all year long with cross country, as many members also compete on the track and field squad, and indoor season to help prepare for the outdoor campaign. Since the fall and winter teams were cancelled due to the pandemic, the Bullets are faced with the unique challenge of having to prepare for just one competitive season compared to the normal way.
“We typically have a structured training program year-round that allows us to gradually progress into race shape,” said second-year Head Coach Bryson Hartzler. “It also allows us to spend a lot of time on the technical events as well.”
Gettysburg may not have had competition involvement in the fall or winter, but they are a squad of upperclassmen who have had valuable experiences along with sophomores and freshmen who will look to make immediate contributions this season.
Looking to help pace the Bullets this season are throwers senior captain Diana Bianco Riley (Seekonk, Mass./St. Mary Academy Bay View), junior Jessica Alessi (Nassau, N.Y./Ichabod Crane), and Katherine Mangione (Doylestown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie). Junior distance runner captain Georgia Larzelere (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) and junior jumper Anna Pienkos (North Haven, Conn./Sacred Heart Academy). Pienkos earned honorable-mention all-conference recognition during the 2019 outdoor season in the high jump.
Sophomore sprinters Lily Morrell (Frederick, Md./Urbana) and Julia Piness (Chatham, N.J./Chatham), and distance runner Amanda Addesso (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire), and freshman thrower Holly Ferrara (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) will look to add spark to this year’s squad.
“The main thing I want to accomplish this season is to give the student-athletes as many opportunities to compete as they can and to see continued improvement over our condensed season,” said Hartzler.
The Bullets schedule consists of four meets with the home invite on April 24 and the conference championship on May 1 in Lancaster, Pa.
Gettysburg was picked fourth in the CC Preseason Coaches’ Poll out of seven teams competing this spring. Johns Hopkins University was the favorite with six first-place votes while Dickinson College collected one first-place vote.
No fans will be allowed at athletic contests hosted by Centennial Conference institutions this spring. The home invite at Gettysburg on April 24 will be streamed live.
This story was originally posted on the Gettysburg College Website.