Scots Impressive At Kenyon Invitational

Ali Drushal

The College of Wooster track & field teams enjoyed a successful evening Friday when they traveled to Kenyon College’s “Last Chance” Invitational, with the Fighting Scot men taking second in the six-team field, while the Scot women placed third, also in a six-team field. Thiel College won the men’s competition with 170 points, while Wooster was right behind with 120 points and host Kenyon in third with 102 points. Rio Grande University (62), Waynesburg College (47) and Westminster (3) rounded out fourth-sixth place. For the women, Westminster took first (137) and Thiel second (129.5), with the Scots third (91), followed by Waynesburg (76.5), Kenyon (50) and Rio Grande (5).

The Wooster men were once again strong in the field events, with Tristan Jordan and Eric Dyer placing 2-3 in the long jump competition, with jumps of 6.32 meters and 5.89 meters, respectively, while the duo also fared well in the triple jump, with Jordan winning the event (12.96 meters) and Dyer placing third (12.65 meters). In the shot put competition, fellow Scots Steve Zumbrun (13.62 meters) and Rick Drushal (13.30 meters) finished second and third, respectively.

The Scots picked up major points in the 3000 meter run, placing five runners in the top-8, including Terry Workman (9:20.48) and Rick Workman (9:27.02) who took second and third, respectively. In addition, Jeff Jacobs (9:50.57), Bryan Loy (9:56.81) and Michael Cynkar (9:59.64) finished consecutively in fifth-seventh places.

In the 55 meter hurdles, Dierre Taylor finished third and Matt Jenson fourth, crossing the line in respective times of 8.08 seconds and 8.24 seconds, while in the 200 meter dash, Jenson took seventh (24.28) and Sateesh Venkatesh placed fifth (24.15).

John Officer was the third-place winner in the 400 meter dash (54.15), while teammates William Setliff (54.86), Matthew Solter (55.17) and Seth Stuck (56.82) rounded out the fourth, fifth and eighth places, respectively.

Also for Wooster, Nate Johns placed sixth in the one-mile run (5:03.92) and Paul Thompson took sixth in the 800 meter run (2:07.87).

On the women’s side, the Scots were highly competitive in the 3000 meter run, with four runners placing in the top-8, led by Ashley Zervos who won the event in 11:16.30. Caitlin Oriordian crossed the line in third (11:53.38), while teammates Nicole Calderone (11:58.00) and Erin Bynre (12:15.47) finished sixth and eighth, respectively.

Ali Drushal won the pole vault competition, with a jump of 10 ft. 6 in. and also was runner-up in the 400 meter dash, crossing the line in 1:03.74. Also in the pole vault competition, Sarah Wiswell finished third (9 ft.) and Elizabeth Terveer was seventh (6 ft. 6 in.).

Kayla Miller picked up three top-3 finishes on the evening, taking second in the long jump (4.51 meters) and third in both the high jump (4 ft. 10 in.) and the triple jump (10.47 meters).  Also scoring points for the Scots in the high jump was Natalie Noche (4 ft. 8 in.) and Ashley Baker (4 ft. 6 in.) who placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Other top finishers for the Wooster women were Katie Dale, who won the shot put competition with a throw of 10.66 meters and Noche who placed eighth in the 55 meter dash (8.24).

The Scots are back in action next weekend when they will compete in the 2007 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships held March 2-3 in Granville, Ohio at host Denison University.