Scots Headed to South Carolina, Virginia for Spring Break Meets

Ali Drushal

Having completed the indoor season, The College of Wooster track & field teams will continue their 2007 campaign with a pair of meets over spring break. First, on Friday and Saturday, March 16-17, the Fighting Scots will be at the Shamrock Invitational, hosted by NCAA Div. I Coastal Carolina University. The next Saturday, March 24, Wooster will be at Lynchburg College in central Virginia for that school’s invitational, which begins at 8 a.m.  

NCAC Championships Recap: On March 2-3, the Wooster track & field teams put forth a strong showing in several events at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships (indoor), hosted by Denison University in Granville, Ohio, with five Scots earning all-conference laurels (top-three finishes) during the weekend.
    The Wooster men finished fifth in the field of 10 teams with 43 points, behind champion Allegheny College (159), Ohio Wesleyan University (114), Wabash College (100.5) and Denison (75.5). The Scots finished a single point ahead of Kenyon College (42), while rounding out the field were Wittenberg University (39), Oberlin College (31), Earlham College (15), and Hiram College (5).
    The Wooster women ended up in seventh-place in their nine-team field, scoring 37 points. Ohio Wesleyan won the team title with 183 points, followed by Allegheny (112), Oberlin (106), Denison (60), Wittenberg (58), and Earlham (49). Kenyon came in eighth (10) and Hiram ninth (9).
    Individually, on the men’s side, the Scots’ Tristan Jordan (Virginia Beach, Va. / Floyd E. Kellam) led the way, finishing second in the triple jump with a leap of 44 feet, 4.5 inches to earn him All-NCAC accolades. In addition, Jordan was seventh in the long jump (20 feet, 1 inch).
    Rick Drushal (Lakeville, Ohio / West Holmes) also earned a spot on the all-conference team via a third-place showing in the shot put, as he recorded a mark of 47 feet, 8.5 inches. Complementing Drushal was Steve Zumbrun (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic) with an eighth-place effort in the shot put (45 feet, 1 inch), while also in the field events, Eric Dyer (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) was fifth in the triple jump (43 feet, 8 inches), and Averell Gatton (McLean, Va. / Langley) came in eighth in the high jump (5 feet, 8 inches).
    Wooster’s highest-scoring event was the 55-meter hurdles, as three Scots scored, led by Bryan Albani (Warren, Ohio / Howland). He crossed third in a time of 8.07 for All-NCAC honors, while teammates Dierre Taylor (Akron, Ohio / Garfield) and Matt Jensen (Concord, Ohio / Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) took fourth (8.12) and eighth (8.20), respectively.
    Headlining the performances by the Scot women was Ali Drushal (Lakeville, Ohio / West Holmes), who won the pole vault championship, clearing 10 feet, 8 inches. Also in that event, teammate Sara Wiswell (Broadview Hts., Ohio / Brecksville-Broadview Hts.) was third at an even 9 feet. Both efforts garnered all-conference recognition.
    Kayla Miller (Mercer, Pa. / Mercer Area) scored in three field events for Wooster, just missing All-NCAC honors in the triple jump with a fourth-place showing (34 feet, 10.25 inches), and then taking seventh in both the long jump (15 feet, 3.5 inches) and the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches). Also in the high jump, Scot teammates Ashley Baker (Lexington, Ohio / Lexington) and Natalee Nochee (Cambridge, Ohio / Cambridge) tied for eighth-place (4 feet, 8 inches).
    Other scorers for Wooster were Ashley Zervos (Wheeling, W. Va. / The Linsly School), who ran to seventh-place in the 5000 meters (19:07.52) and Katie Dale (West Point, Ind. / McCutcheon), who finished eighth in the shot put (34 feet, 0.5 inches).