Highlighted by a monster performance from Isaac Alderfer (Broadway, Va./Broadway) that broke an ODAC record, the EMU track & field team had a huge day at Saturday’s Roanoke Invitational Challenge. Of the 14 individual races run by Royals, nine of them resulted in a personal record.
Two weeks after breaking his PR and running the top time in the nation, Alderfer out-did himself. He was challenged by Lynchburg’s Frank Csorba for much of the mile, before pulling away down the stretch. Alderfer turned a lead of less than half a second into a four-second win by running an amazing 29.96 on the final split to clock at 4:11.91. Csorba was second at 4:15.92.
Alderfer’s time not only surpassed his two-week-old PR of 4:16.80, he also broke the facility, EMU and ODAC records in the process. Tyler Denlinger held the previous EMU record at 4:14.68 from 2017, while his time knocked off the conference record of 4:12.07, set by Washington and Lee’s Ian McDonald in 2015.
With this year’s National Championships being run on a 300m oversize track, Alderfer’s 200m flat track time was converted for the national rankings. He is back on top of the D-III landscape with a converted time of 4:08.74.
In the 800m, Alderfer earned another win, although this one was harder to come by. After the first lap of his heat, the junior was fifth out of six runners. The order remained the same halfway through the race. But Alderfer showed his strength by maintaining his 200m splits in the 29-second range, while his competitors faded away. He passed three runners in the third lap, before overtaking the final one down the stretch for the win. His time was 1:57.80, while Lynchburg’s Sam Llaneza was second at 1:59.69.
Alijah Johnson (Upper Marlboro, Md./Frederick Douglass) was just as gritty in his two individual races. The sprinter easily won his heat in the prelims with a 7.26, and then broke his PR in the finals with a 7.17. He took second overall at the meet and moved up to a tie for 20th in the nation. Johnson is also tied for second in EMU history behind Nuriddin Abdus-Salaam‘s record of 7.09 from 2017.
In the 200m, Johnson won his heat and the event with a time of 22.90. The adjusted time to a 300m oversize track puts him at 22.50 and No. 11 in the nation.
Shane Gray (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) notched a PR in the 400m, taking second in his heat with a time of 55.25. Isaac Andreas (Bluffton, Ohio/Bluffton) PRed in the 1000m at 2:46.37, standing No. 7 in program history in the non-traditional event.
Junior Allison Shelly (Collinsville, Miss./West Lauderdale) was the standout on the women’s side, PRing in both the mile and the 3000m. She ended the day’s individual races with a big-time run in the 3000m, coming in third overall and first among D-III runners. He time of 11:18.39 was less than seven seconds off the lead and puts her No. 9 in EMU history. Shelly also set a new top time in the mile at 5:46.14.
Haley Corbin (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) broke her PR in both events as well. Her time in the mile was 5:55.25 while the distance time charted at 11:59.98. Freshman Lucy Unzicker (Benson, Ill./Roanoke-Benson) set a PR in the mile at 6:13.69.
Way to go Isaac! the Mellingers