Wieferich Tabbed Top Runner at NCAC Indoor Championships

Katie Wieferich

Junior Katie Wieferich was named Outstanding Women’s Middle/Distance Runner of the Year after establishing a new school and conference record in winning the 5000 meter race and anchoring the winning distance medley relay team as The College of Wooster women’s track and field team finished sixth overall at the 2006 North Coast Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships hosted by Denison University at the Mitchell Recreation and Athletics Center in Granville, Ohio.

After finishing in the cellar in 2005, the Fighting Scots made the jump to sixth in the nine-team field, racking up 51 points. Allegheny College easily outdistanced Ohio Wesleyan University for the team title, netting 148 points to the Battling Bishops’ 116, while Denison University tallied 90 for third-place. Wittenberg University and Oberlin College just nipped the Scots for a top-five finish by earning 56 and 52 points, respectively.

Wieferich was one of the stars of the meet, winning the 5000 meters Friday night with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 17:38.13, easily outdistancing the rest of the field by nearly 30 seconds. She bested the old NCAC record of 17:47.43 set by Allegheny’s Nicole Morandi in 2002, and shattered Wooster’s previous best time of 18:19.04 by Beth Blakemore 14 years ago (1992). For an encore on Saturday, Wieferich anchored the first-place distance medley relay team to yet another school record of 12:53.41, bettering the former standard by more than three seconds (12:56.72). Teaming with her in the event were sophomore Nicole Calderone, and seniors Jill Berner and Hannah Bierlein.

Wieferich wasn’t alone with an individual title as Berner picked up her third consecutive pole vault championship, setting a new meet record in the process. The senior cleared 11 feet, 1 inch to beat out Sarah Sammel of Allegheny by three inches. Berner, who set a school record with a leap of 11 feet, 3.75 inches earlier this season, topped her own conference record of 10 feet, 6.75 inches set in 2004.

First-year Ali Drushal also picked up all-conference accolades in her first conference championship meet, as she finished behind Berner in the pole vault with a third-place leap of exactly 10 feet. She was also a key scorer in the 55-meter hurdles with a sixth-place time of 9.42.

Newcomers made an immediate impact in scoring points for Wooster, including first-years Kayla Miller and Katie Dale. Miller finished seventh overall in both the triple jump and high jump with marks of 34 feet and 5 feet, respectively, while Dale placed sixth in the shot put with a heave of 34 feet, 9.25 inches.