Wooster Thinclads Nail Down Third-Place Finishes at Own Invite

Katie Wieferich

Powered by a combined four individual victories and multiple top-10 finishes, The College of Wooster men’s and women’s track and field teams both finished in third-place at the conclusion of the Wooster Invitational this afternoon (April 1) at John P. Papp Stadium in Wooster, Ohio.

The Fighting Scot women racked up 98.2 points on the afternoon to easily beat out Edinboro University (86.9) for the No. 3 spot in the field of 11 teams. Case Western Reserve University captured the team title with 139.5 points, finishing just ahead of Walsh University in second (136).

The Spartans also captured the men’s team title by a slim margin over Notre Dame (Ohio) College 119-116.5. Wooster bested the remaining seven teams to finish third with 101 points.

Three Scot women captured individual titles on the day, including senior pole vault specialist Jill Berner. Berner easily locked up a win in the pole vault with a leap of 10 feet, six inches, a full foot above the second-place finisher. She was also a key contributor on the track as she crossed the tape third in the 400 meters in a time of 1:04.32.

Junior Katie Wieferich was successful in her lone event of the afternoon, the 1500 meters. The junior raced around the track in just a shade under five minutes (4:59.7) to beat out Kelly Richards of Edinboro (5:03.02).

Wooster’s third victory came in the shot put as first-year Katie Dale came up with a toss of 36 feet, 0.75 inches to earn her first collegiate win. She also finished seventh in the discus with a heave of 104 feet, three inches.

The Scots had a myriad of top-10 finishes as well. In addition to Berner, Wooster had three of the top-four positions in the pole vault with freshman Ali Drushal capturing second (9 feet, 6 inches) and senior Kate Legg finishing fourth (8 feet, 6 inches). Drushal also managed a fifth-place showing in the 100 hurdles (16.99), followed closely by sophomore Kelly Patton in seventh (17.58).

Other finishes of note included freshman Kayla Miller with second-, third-, and seventh-place efforts in the high jump (4 feet, 7.75 inches), triple jump (32 feet, 2 inches), and long jump (14 feet, 9 inches), respectively; senior Hannah Bierlein who was fourth in the 400 meters (1:06.60); and juniors Ashley Zervos and Emily Rackley who finished third (19:20.52) and fifth (19:35.17) in the 5000 meters.

Freshman Dierre Taylor accounted for the Wooster’s men lone individual win as he took first in the 110 hurdles. Taylor crossed the line in 15.46, followed closely by teammates Matt Jensen and Rob Kelm in third (15.90) and fourth (16.58), respectively. Jensen and Kelm also competed in the 400 hurdles, finishing 4-5 in 1:01.57 and 1:01.95, respectively.

Junior thrower Rick Drushal was one of the Scots’ biggest point producers on the day as he knocked out two top-four finishes. He grabbed third in the shot put with a total toss of 44 feet, 6.75 inches, and followed that effort up with a heave of 133 feet, 2 inches in the discus for fourth.

In the pits, freshman Tristan Jordan cleared 19 feet exactly to finish fourth in the long jump, and then went for 38 feet, 1 inch in the triple jump for fifth-place. Also, sophomore Ross Stevenson and freshman Averall Gatton each cleared 5 feet, 8 inches to tie for fourth overall in the high jump.

On the track, the Scots were paced by senior Taylor Delhagen’s second-place showing in the 5000 meters. Delhagen finished the course in 15:46.26, just ahead of a pair of Case runners, while freshman Mark DeWine and junior Rudy Gilman placed eighth (16:28.95) and ninth (16:44.18) in the same event. Teammate Colin Turner also faired well in the distance events, coming up with a sixth-place effort of 4:13.48 in the 1500 meters.

Sophomore Jalam Cutting was Wooster’s top sprinter in both the 100 and 200 meters. Cutting went 11.77 for eighth in the former, while in the latter, he went 24.11 to improve one place.

Wooster continues its outdoor season next weekend as the Scots head to Case for its annual invitational on Saturday, April 8. Events are slated to begin at 10 a.m.