Scots Aiming for Conference Titles at NCAC Indoor Meet

Bryan Albani

The College of Wooster men’s and women’s track & field teams will cap their indoor season this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 29-March 1, as the Fighting Scots will be competing for individual titles at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, and look to improve on their fifth- (men) and seventh-place (women) finishes from last year. The 16-event meet begins Friday at 2 p.m., inside Denison University’s Mitchell Recreation and Athletics Center, and will conclude on Saturday at about 6 p.m. Results are expected to be posted following each event on Denison’s Web site at http://www.denison.edu/athletics/2008ncacindoor.html.

Several Wooster student-athletes will be in the running for NCAC championships. Bryan Albani (Warren, Ohio / Howland) has this season’s second-fastest time of anybody in the conference in the 55-meter hurdles (7.84). In the high jump, Jon Mathis (Tallmadge, Ohio / Tallmadge) and Averell Gatton (McLean, Va. / Langley) are seeded second (6 feet, 1.25 inches) and fourth (6 feet, 0.5 inches), respectively. Also on the men’s side, Tristan Jordan (Virginia Beach, Va. / Floyd E. Kellam) enters the meet with the fourth-best mark in the triple jump (34 feet, 5.5 inches) and Steve Zumbrun (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic) is fifth in the shot put (45 feet, 7.5 inches).

Katelynn Riley (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake) will lead the Scots’ women’s team. She is tied for first with three others for the top high jump of the season (5 feet, 1 inch), and also comes in with the fourth- and fifth-best respective performances in the triple jump (34 feet, 5.5 inches) and 55-meter hurdles (9.23).

Last Week: On Feb. 22, Bryan Albani (Warren, Ohio / Howland) broke a school record, highlighting Wooster’s results at the annual Greater Cleveland Championships in Berea, Ohio. As a team, the Scots placed fifth in the men’s eight-team field and eighth of nine in the women’s meet.

Albani set a new team record in the 55-meter hurdles while winning the event with a time of 7.84, a narrow one one-hundredth of a second better than teammate Dierre Taylor’s mark in 2006 (7.85).

In other men’s action, Tristan Jordan (Virginia Beach, Va. / Floyd E. Kellam) repeated as the Greater Cleveland champion in the triple jump (43 feet, 5 inches) and Eric Dyer (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) finished third (42 feet, 9.75 inches). High jumper Jon Mathis (Tallmadge, Ohio / Tallmadge) took third, clearing 6 feet, 1.25 inches.