Forced to Wait
Their self-improvement continues.
The proving of themselves as Division I college freshmen track and field athletes is on hold.
Butler graduates Liz Simms (Davidson) and Ryan Marcella (Duquesne), along with Seneca Valley graduate Lauren Chappell (Robert Morris) were primed to make major strides during their first collegiate outdoor season. That season was canceled weeks ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Simms won the 800 meters at a pair of indoor meets and runs a leg of Davidson's 4x800 meter relay. Marcella ran the 60 and 200 meters indoors, and runs a leg of the 4x100 relay at Duquesne.
“I was looking forward to proving to myself and others I can compete at this level,” Simms said. “My goal was to hit 2:10 in the 800 this spring.
“We have two or three freshmen running that 4x8. We wanted to finish among the top two or three at the Atlantic 10 Championships, establish ourselves right away.”
Marcella established personal records in the 200 and 60 meters during the indoor season — running the latter in 7.11 seconds.
“I was hoping for faster times, but I was pretty satisfied with my indoor season,” Marcella said. He placed seventh in the 60 meters at the Youngstown State Invitational.
“My goal this outdoor season was to hit 10.8 in the 100 meters (hit 11.0 in high school) and to have our 4x1 win the conference title,” Marcella added.
Chappell is the only pentathlete on the Robert Morris women's roster. She does the 60-meter hurdles, shot put, long jump, high jump and 800 meters in the pentathlon. She will do the heptathlon as well, running the 100-meter hurdles, 200 meters and throwing the javelin.
She missed the only indoor meet this past winter — at Youngstown State — that offers the pentathlon.
“I got sick and wasn't able to compete,” Chappell said. “That hurt, missing that. I was looking forward to being a multi-event athlete outdoors. This is a costly year to miss.”
Chappell emphasized that a female athlete's peak years are her early college campaigns.“I know the NCAA is allowing us an extra year of eligibility, but I feel like I'm training at my peak right now,” she said. “Working out on my own now, there's no way to measure anything. You can't time anything. It just feels that way.“Losing this spring is going to hurt my career, I think.”Chappell is Seneca Valley's record-holder in the 100-meter hurdles. She also ranks among the Raiders' all-time top 10 in the long jump, high jump and 300 hurdles.“I've gained some muscle weight and I know I'm faster. I was looking forward to showing that in my running events,” Chappell said.Simms was being pushed by Davidson teammate Eleni Daughters — one of the Atlantic 10's top 800-meter runners — when the team practiced together.“I miss not having her to keep pace with,” Simms said. “Running by myself every day is definitely different. I have to stay motivated.“Coach (Jen Straub) has been helpful that way. She texts us every day, saying she misses us, misses our smile.”While working out alone at home, she's added five miles to her running week.“I'm running 30 miles a week now, trying to push myself,” Simms said.Marcella says he's frustrated because “I feel quick and powerful, but I can't compete.”While his goals are gone for this spring, they will resurface in coming years.“I'm changing my major to health administration and I want to become a state police officer when I'm done with school,” Marcella said. “At Duquesne, I want to help our team win a (conference title) and I want to wind up in the top three in the record book in some events, maybe even break a school record.”He added that he wants to become a leader and mentor like track athletes Isaac Elliott and Andrew George, two of his running mates on the Dukes' 4x100 relay.“Isaac is the Atlantic 10 champion in the 100 and 200 meters,” Marcella said. “I've learned from them. They helped me make the transition here. I want to be able to do the same thing for our younger guys in a couple of years.”
