Scots Going South for Pair of Meets Over Spring Break

Chelsea Fisher

The College of Wooster now turns it attention to the outdoor track & field season, which begins with two meets during the school’s annual spring break training trip. First, the Fighting Scots will be part of an event consisting primarily of NCAA Div. I schools, the UNCW Seahawk Invitational, hosted by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington on Friday and Saturday, March 14-15. After a week of training, Wooster is scheduled to take part in the Lynchburg Invitational Saturday, March 22, starting at 9 a.m.

Last Meet: On Feb. 29-March 1, Wooster’s indoor track & field teams, behind six all-conference performances, each finished right about in the middle of their respective fields at the NCAC Championships, held at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, as the men placed sixth of 10 and the women fifth of nine.

The Scot women scored 42 points, while Ohio Wesleyan University (154) narrowly edged Allegheny College (152) for the team championship. The Wooster men nearly had a fifth-place effort as well, as their 48-point total was just 1.5 points behind Oberlin College (49.5). Ohio Wesleyan made it a clean sweep winning the men’s competition as well with 163.5 points to Allegheny’s 135.

Highlighting the Scots’ results in the women’s meet was the distance medley relay team, with Jessica Yarmosky (Pittsfield, Mass. / Monument Mountain), Chelsea Fisher (Metuchen, N.J. / Metuchen), Dana Culbert (Fremont, Ohio / St. Joseph Central Catholic), and Suzanne Capehart (Oak Hill, Va. / Oakton) joining forces for a runner-up showing (13:19.34). They earned all-conference honors, as did Katelynn Riley (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake) individually. She moved up three spots in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles (9.00) after recording the sixth-fastest time in the prelims (9.07).

Kayla Miller (Mercer, Pa. / Mercer Area) advanced to the finals of three events, including fourth- and fifth-place performances in the high jump (5 feet, 0.25 inches) and triple jump (34 feet, 5.75 inches), respectively. Elizabeth Wardrop (Rockford, Mich. / American School of the Hague) scored in each of those events, too, taking seventh in the triple jump (31 feet, 9.5 inches) and eighth in the high jump (4 feet, 8.75 inches).

Additional scorers in the individual events were Katie Dale (West Point, Ind. / McCutcheon), who came in fourth in the shot put (36 feet, 6.25 inches), Capehart, who crossed the finish line seventh in the 5000 meters (19:08.67), and Ali Drushal (Lakeville, Ohio / West Holmes), who was seventh in the pole vault (9 feet, 0.25 inches).

The Wooster men exhibited their strength in the jumping events. Jon Mathis (Tallmadge, Ohio / Tallmadge) earned runner-up honors in the high jump (6 feet, 2.25 inches) and teammate Averell Gatton (McLean, Va. / Langley) was right behind in third-place (6 feet, 1.25 inches). In the triple jump, Tristan Jordan (Virginia Beach, Va. / Floyd E. Kellam) repeated his second-place showing from last year (44 feet, 2 inches) and he was complemented by Eric Dyer (Lexington, Mass. /
Lexington) in fourth (43 feet, 7.25 inches) and Gatton in eighth (42 feet, 3.5 inches).

The Scots had multiple scorers in the 55-meter hurdles as well. Bryan Albani (Warren, Ohio / Howland) had the fastest time in the preliminaries (7.88) and matched that time in the finals, but settled for runner-up honors. Matt Jensen (Concord, Ohio / Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) hit the finish line in eighth-place (8.16).

Albani and Jensen were part of Wooster’s top relay team, too, as they combined with Will Setliff (East Palestine, Ohio / East Palestine) and Sateesh Venkatesh (Bedford, Mass. / Bedford) for fifth-place in the 4x200 meters (1:35.37).

Also noteworthy, Steve Zumbrun (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic) produced a fifth-place showing in the shot put (45 feet, 8 inches) and Albani was seventh in the 55-meter dash (6.88).