Schalick and Elizabethtown graduate Samuel Gerstenbacher placed 2nd in the Penn Relays Open 5,000 Friday night at Franklin Field and destroyed his PR.
Gerstenbacher ran 14:06.23, finishing just two meters behind winner Ben Flanagan, the former Michigan runner. Flanagan ran 14:04.90.
Gerstenbacher’s previous PR was 14:21.79, which he ran at Princeton earlier this month. Before that it was 14:54.79 from 2019 in the York (Pa.) Twilight Meet. So he’s now lowered his 5,000 PR 48 ½ seconds in 28 days.
The races at Princeton and Penn are his first track 5,000s since May of 2019, his senior year at Elizabethtown.
On Friday, Gerstenbacher came through 200 meters in 33.26 and then reeled off his next 12 laps in 69.95, 66.80, 66.65, 68.68, 69.33, 70.26, 69.60, 68.03, 69.50, 69.66, 66.28 and 58.28. So he closed in 2:04.56 for his final 800. Flanagan closed in 57.18 and 2:03.35.
Also in the race were Haddon Township graduates Jacob Dinerman [14:33.28] and Luke Petela [14:36.83]. Dinerman lowered his 5,000 PR from 14:39.76, which he ran two weeks ago in Edison, and Petela lowered his PR from 14:37.63, which he ran in Albana in May of 2019.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 