Scot Track Opens 2007 Season Friday Night

Katie Wieferich

The 2007 track and field season gets underway this week for The College of Wooster, which will send its men’s and women’s squads to Oberlin, Ohio, to take part in the Oberlin Lid-Lifter on Friday, Jan. 19, at 5:45 p.m. Three schools will compete in the annual non-scoring event, with Hiram College joining host Oberlin College and the Fighting Scots. This marks the fifth-straight year Wooster has kicked off its season at Oberlin.

    Season Preview (Men): Wooster looks to build off last spring’s fifth-place performance at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, which marked a three-spot jump in the standings from the 2006 NCAC indoor meet. With seven individual scorers back from the outdoor meet as well as several other veterans and “a real impressive group of first-years,” according to head coach Dennis Rice, the Scots have realistic aspirations of moving into the top-three of the conference for the first time since 2003.
    Headlining the list of veterans are senior thrower Rick Drushal (Lakeville, Ohio / West Holmes), junior jumper Tristan Jordan (Virginia Beach, Va. / Floyd E. Kellam), and a trio of hurdlers in junior Matt Jensen (Concord, Ohio / Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin), senior Rob Kelm (Cincinnati, Ohio / Colerain), and sophomore Dierre Taylor (Akron, Ohio / Garfield). Drushal enters into his final campaign as a seven-time All-NCAC honoree after placing runner-up in the indoor shot put (47 feet, 3.25 inches) and third in both the outdoor shot put (46 feet, 6.25 inches) and discus (141 feet, 9 inches) last year. Jordan was very close to an NCAC championship himself, finishing second in the outdoor long jump (21 feet, 3.25 inches), which marked the sixth time he’s scored at a conference event in his young career.
    The hurdles will again be a strongpoint. Jensen returns after a productive sophomore season, highlighted by taking runner-up in the outdoor 110-meter hurdles (15.74) at NCAC’s. Kelm is a five-time scorer at conference meets, while Taylor broke the school record in the indoor 55-meter hurdles (7.85) as a freshman and is striving for more consistency this year.
    The Scots will also look for significant contributions from senior middle distance specialist Tim Presto (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth), sophomore jumper Averell Gatton (McLean, Va. / Langley), senior distance runner Dave Thomas (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria), and junior thrower Steve Zumbrun (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic). Presto missed much of the last two seasons due to injury, but the soccer standout is a proven All-NCAC caliber performer when healthy. Gatton made an impact in both the high jump and the long jump as a freshman, tying for sixth (5 feet, 9.25 inches) and taking eighth (19 feet, 4.25 inches) at the outdoor NCAC’s. Thomas is coming off a cross country season, in which he primarily served as Wooster’s No. 2 runner, while Zumbrun notched seventh-place in the shot put (44 feet, 0.75 inches) at last May’s league meet.

    Season Preview (Women): Wooster lost some significant points due to graduation, but paced by the North Coast Athletic Conference’s reigning Middle Distance/Distance Runner of the Year in Katie Wieferich (Marietta, Ohio / Marietta), the Scots could still replicate their impressive third-place finish at last May’s NCAC meet.
    Wieferich cruised to conference championships in the indoor 5000 meters (17:38.13), outdoor 5000 meters (17:39.27), and outdoor 10,000 meters (38:26.43), and then went on to double All-American honors in the outdoor distance events via top-eight runs at the NCAA  Championships. There, she placed third in Div. III in the 10,000 meters (35:53.55) and fifth in the 5000 meters (17:21.54), and single handily led Wooster to a tie for 27th-place in the national field.
    Supporting Wieferich will be proven All-NCAC competitors Ali Drushal (Lakeville, Ohio / West Holmes) and Katie Dale (West Point, Ind. / McCutcheon) from the sophomore class. Drushal has the potential to make an impact in multiple events, having placed third in the indoor pole vault (10 feet), outdoor javelin (111 feet, 6 inches), and outdoor 400-meter hurdles (1:07.45) at the conference meets as a freshman, all while scoring in two additional individual events. Dale possesses the potential for more showings like last spring’s third-place throw in the shot put (37 feet, 4 inches).
    Seven additional returning NCAC scorers are back – junior heptathlete Ashley Baker (Lexington, Ohio / Lexington), senior high jumper Dana Doran-Myers (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany), sophomore jumper Kayla Miller (Mercer, Pa. / Mercer Area), sophomore high jumper Natalee Noche (Cambridge, Ohio / Cambridge), junior hurdler Kelly Patton (Wooster, Ohio / Wooster), sophomore thrower Victoria Peterman (Smithville, Ohio / Smithville), and senior distance runner Ashley Zervos (Wheeling, W. Va. / The Linsly School). Baker was seventh in the conference heptathlon in 2006 with a score of 2622 and could make an increased impact in  the jumps as well this spring. Doran-Myers scored at two NCAC meets early in her career, but has been slowed by injuries  since. Miller produced points for the Scots in the high jump and triple jump at both NCAC meets last season, finishing as high as fifth in the outdoor triple jump (34 feet, 11.25 inches), while Noche was eighth in the outdoor high jump (4 feet, 9.75 inches).
    Patton is a strong complement to Drushal in the hurdles as a four-time NCAC meet scorer, Peterman backs up Dale in the throwing events after taking eighth in the conference’s shot put competition (30 feet, 11.5 inches) last May, and Zervos supports Wieferich in the distance area as she was sixth in the NCAC’s 10,000 (41:25.66).