Record breaker excites Trackster to wins

Over January, the Men's and Women's Indoor Track Teams competed in weekly meets, which were highlighted by junior Nicole James, who smashed two new Oberlin Varsity Records in her first 300 and 400-meter indoor races as a Yeowomen.

The men's and women's teams competed in three meets over Winter Term, two meets at Baldwin Wallace College and the NCAC relays at Denison University.

Add these records, some top finishes, the women finished fourth at the NCAC Relays on Jan.31 and one smashed camcorder and the indoor track team had a successful Winter Term.

First-year David Andalman smashed into the camcorder, after handing out the baton in the 1600-meter relay at the Baldwin Wallace Meet on Jan. 23 according to junior Dan Feldman. He did not stick with the track curves. He momentarily lost focus and ran straight ahead off the track directly into the Oberlin Cameraman taping the race and knocked him over. This was all caught on tape fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

The highlights for the Yeowomen in their Jan. 16 meet at BW, were a third place finish in the 800-meter relay out of eight teams and first-year Mary Towey's 31'4" shot-put, good for fifth place. Junior Amie Ely placed fourth in the long jump leaping 15'8 1/4".

The Yeomen raced to second in the 800-meters and in the 400-meters Feldman finished second with the blazing time of 53.94. Junior James Priest finished fifth in 55.74.

In the 55-meters, a race that is mainly determined by a runner's start according to Feldman, senior Steve Jackson crossed the line in second in 6.79 seconds.

Junior David Ellis took third in the 300-meters in 37.35.

The Yeomen took fourth in the 1600-meters with a time of 3:45.85.

In the Long jump, junior Rahsaan McGlashan-Powell leaped 20'8" for a fourth place.

In her first race the 300-meters James was not aware of the record until Coach Mulligan informed her after the race, she ran the 300 meters in 43.70 seconds to set the OVR.

"It definitely help boost my confidence as did finishing first," James said.

James attributes her success to working very hard in practice and concentrating on staying focus.

This is James' first year of Indoor Track at Oberlin, as a first-year at the College of Wooster, James also ran indoor track.

The next week, also at BW on Jan. 23. James won the 400-meters with a time of 62.19 for another OVR. This time she was well aware of the record.

"She's running very well at this point.," Head Coach Tom Mulligan said. "She's very talented and works very hard and Coach Smith does an outstanding job of coaching."

In the meet, James Richter ran well in the 800 meters and placed fourth.

Last Saturday at the NCAC Relays held at Denison University, the Women finished fourth, while the men came in ninth of out nine.

James was also a participant of the 1600-meter team that destroyed the Oberlin Record(OVR) by seven seconds. James participated in another record breaking perform as a member of the 1600-meter Relay which destroyed an OVR by seven seconds with the time of 4:17.11 and finished second. Other relay members included junior Amie Ely, first-year Elizabeth Chandler and senior Trista Thornberry.

"We knew we were going to take it down," James said. "All of us where really confident that the record wouldn't stand after this meet."

For each Oberlin Record broken, an athlete receives a 45 LP from Mulligan's Oldies collection in a ceremony on the following Monday, while athletes that record Personal Records over the weekend, are recognized with a track pin.

In the women's long jump relay, Ely and Chandler teamed up to take first with a combined leap of 30'3".

The duo of first-years Jenni Huelsman and Medora Lytle ran to a third place finish in the 5000-meters with a time of 40:08.16.

In the 55-meter hurdle relay, Ely and first-year Cheryl Courtice teamed up for third in 20.7.

Ely, Chandler, James and Thornberry placed second in the Sprint Medley Relay consisting of runs of legs of two 200-meters, a 400-meter leg and an 800-meter leg.

The men competed in only 7 of the 12 events in the meet. Their only top finish came from the men's Sprint Medley Relay team of Jackson, Sean Wesolowski, Feldman and Richter that placed second.

"Other people saw we had really fast guys," Feldman said. "If I were them, I'd be afraid of us."

In their previous meets, the Yeomen and Yeowomen have been running with out all their cylinders. Many athletes have returned from Winter Term and some runners are still getting into shape.

The long-distance runners only compete in less than half the meets, because they need more time to train to develop their muscles and while the weekly meets are important, everyone looks at Conference with a gleam, because that is where champions are crowned.

"We haven't run the whole team, poised, scouting the competition," Coach Smith said. "Getting ready to explode all at once. Each of the athletes are doing their part to do what's necessary to win.

Today, the teams head over to Case Western Reserve University for Case's first ever held in their brand new indoor track complex and James hopes to earn a PR in the 300 meters.

"Our whole attitude is about winning," Feldman said. "We are done screwing around."

"We are going to rule people this year."