SPORTS

Outdoor track opens with a fifth place finish

Team labeled 'rusty' coming off a five week vacation

by Janet Paskin

After solid performances at the end of the indoor season, the results of their first outdoor track meet were a little disappointing. Oberlin came in fifth place out of six teams in the Otterbein invitational meet last Saturday.

"The competition was stiff," Coach Thomas Muilligan said. "Baldwin-Wallace were the conference champions in the indoor season, Ohio-Wesleyan finished ahead of us in the conference, and Ohio Northern finished tenth in the nation last year. They may be the top three teams in Ohio."

Mulligan added that this was also the first outdoor meet of the season. "We haven't competed in five weeks," he said. "We are just a little rusty. That's to be expected."

In spite of the rust, there were some successes. Sophomore Nicole James finished second in the 200 meter open race. James, along with sophomore Emily Lane, sophomore Christiana Nwofor, and first-year Elizabeth Chandler, placed second in the 400 meter relay. Junior Amie Ely placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles. On the men's team, junior Gil Saenz finished second in the 400 meter hurdles.

There were also two notable performances by women who did not place highly at the meet. Continuing this year's legacy of breaking records by the women's track team, sophomore Kate O'Brian broke the Oberlin pole vault record, placing fifth in the meet. In her first attempt at the javelin, sophomore Katy Durham-Hammer threw 95 feet 4 inches, narrowly missing the finals.

Mulligan was not disappointed in the performances of his athletes. "It's all relative to the level of competition. There were some national champions and some All-Americans out there on Saturday," he said.

The track team is looking forward to this weekend's meet against Wooster and Wilmington College. "This week we'll be more ready," said Mulligan.

Over spring break Ely broke the school record in the heptathalon. The heptathalon consists of seven events: long jump, high jump, shot put, javelin, 100 meter hurdles, 200 meter open, and 800 meter open. Ely broke her previous record of 3,361 points she set last May with a score of 3,635.

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Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 20, April 10, 1998

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