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LANCASTER, PA – Franklin & Marshall College cross country and track athlete Meredith Janeczek (So., Hershey, PA/Hershey) completed the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on January 9, 2005 in support of blindness prevention.
 The
2004 Franklin & Marshall women’s cross country team's Most
Valuable Athlete, she joined the charity marathon training
program Team 20/20 to raise funds for the Prevent Blindness
Georgia Children’s Vision Screening Program. For Janeczek
the cause was very compelling: her brother is legally blind
and she has grown up aware of the challenges blindness presents
for him and her uncle, Fred Leader, who was completely blind
for most of his life. Learning that Janeczek was running in
honor of Fred, his wife promised to match the funds she raised.
As a full-time student and runner, Janeczek challenged herself to raise $2000. She sent out letters asking friends and family to help with a great cause – preventing blindness.
Janeczek exceeded all of her expectations at Disney by winning
first place in her age group in the half marathon with a personal
best 1:33 finishing time and raising more than $4,000 for
Prevent Blindness.
When asked what this experience has meant to her, Janeczek
responded, “When my aunt promised to match all the funds I
had raised so far, she helped me to double my goal. Now my
funds can go to help hundreds of children with sight problems.”
Franklin & Marshall’s #1 runner in cross country for much
of the season, at the 2004 Centennial Conference Championship
race hosted by McDaniel College on October 30, she crossed
the finish line in 23:39 over the six-kilometer course to
earn All-Centennial Conference honors and lead the Diplomats
to a sixth place finish. The finish marked the sixth best
finish by an F&M team since the inaugural CC championship
race in 1993. The placement also snapped a four year streak
of ninth place finishes by F&M (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) as
the Diplomats have finished third (1999), fifth (1993, 1995,
1996, 1998), sixth (1994, 1997, 2004) and ninth since the
Conference’s first championship race.
Historically, she became the first All-Centennial Conference
selection for F&M in cross country since Erin Carlson placed
seventh at the 1999 championship race. Further, her finish
marks the highest by a Franklin & Marshall women’s harrier
since Jamie Kendig won the 1994 individual championship.
At the Goucher College Invitational on October 9, Janeczek finished first in 19:54.45 as the Franklin & Marshall College women's cross country team totaled 30 points to win invitational.
The meet was historical for the Diplomats as it marked the
first invitational win by a Franklin & Marshall College women's
cross country team since 1993 when F&M won the Salisbury University
Tidewater Invitational on October 16 and the Little Three
Championships (F&M 27, Gettysburg 30/ F&M 25, Dickinson 30)
on November 3.
Individually, Janeczek's victory marked her second of the
season as crossed the finish line in 24:05 over the six-kilometer
course at the McDaniel Invitational to finish first. Her pair
of victories marked the first time an F&M women's cross country
runner finished first in two invitationals in the same season
since Jamie Kendig '96 accomplished the feat at the Davis
& Elkins (21:17) and Dickinson (18:45) Invitationals during
the 1994 season.
She closed out the season on November 13 at Allegheny College
as Janeczek crossed the finish line in 23:35 to place 25th
and earn All-Region honors as the Franklin & Marshall College
women’s cross country team finished 11th of 43 teams at the
NCAA Mid-East Region Championships.
Historically, Janeczek became the first F&M harrier to earn
All-Region honors since Erin Carlson '01, Stephanie Stroud
'00 and Lorin Lafemina '00 earned All-Region honors at the
1999 Regional Championships while leading the Diplomats to
a fifth place finish. As a team, Franklin & Marshall finished
the season ranked #12 in final NCAA Mid-East Region Women's
Cross Country Coaches Poll.
Prevent Blindness Georgia was founded in 1965 as the state
affiliate of Prevent Blindness America, the nation’s leading
volunteer eye health and safety organization since 1908. Its
mission is to prevent blindness and preserve sight for the
residents of Georgia, which is accomplished through early-detection
vision screening for children, eye exams and glasses for indigent
and working poor adults, public education on eye health and
safety to persons at risk for eye disease and vision screening
training.
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