Track Reaching Top Form

The Oberlin indoor track team's season is only a few weeks old, but it's already garnered it's share of excitement, victory and the all important team spirit that followers of the squad have come to know and love.

With most of both the men's and women's teams off campus for Winter Term, and a large percentage of those few on-campus not yet competition-ready, the Yeorunners were represented sparsely at best when they kicked off the 2000 season at the Baldwin-Wallace Invitational on Jan. 21. Those that did go however represented strongly.

The day's big story was first-year Courtney Stackhouse. In only her first college meet, and her first ever indoors meet, the sprinter captured first place in the 55m dash finals and set a new Oberlin school record with her time of 7.54 seconds.

"I have to say it was definitely a rush," said Stackhouse. "It was definitely a surprise. I was just glad to get it."

The rest of the team delivered strong performances as well. Junior Liz Chandler snagged second in the 300m dash while first-year Vicki Alla placed fifth in the 400m finals. The 4x200 team of Stackhouse, Alla, senior Christiana Nwofor and Chandler would place third in the meet.

But one week later three first place finishes and a number of strong showings couldn't get the ladies better than a sixth place finish at the NCAC relays. Oberlin was five points out of fifth place Wooster. Host Denison brought home the gold.

The meet, held at Denison University on Jan. 29, took a somewhat different form from normal track meets. In each individual event, the top two finishers in each school had their times, heights or distances added to each other's and teams were then ranked based on these totals. In essence, a relay meet is scored more like a cross country race with teams that have more athletes higher in the standings have a better chance at winning.

The Yeowomen took the 5000m relay handily, beating second place Allegheny by over 44 seconds thanks to junior Jenni Huelsman's fifth and first-year Laura Feeney's sixth place finishes. Oberlin would win the long jump relay behind Chandler and sophomore Apryl Wynn's top five performances. Chandler won the event while Wynn came in fourth.

In actual relay competition, the women's 4x200m-relay team took the top spot in the event. Their time of 1:51.08 was good enough to break the previous meet record.

The distance medley team turned in a fifth place finish. Wynn took 6th in the 55m hurdles, but, since she was Oberlin's only entry into the event, the team was only credited with a ninth-place finish in the standings. Elsewhere, the sprint-medley team of Stackhouse, Wynn, Chandler, and senior Medora Lytle were disqualified when the first handoff occurred outside of the exchange zone.

Unfortunately, the men didn't enjoy as much success as their female counterparts. The squad finished last, three points away from passing Hiram and crawling out of the basement.

Several Yeomen had good showings regardless of the final standing. In particular, the 4x200 team of junior Tim Salazar, junior Zach Rudisin, junior Andre Street and first-year Josh Shapaka finished second. The tandem of first-year David Yarmolinsky and sophomore Dan Blackburn would combine for a fifth-place finish in the shot-put relay.

Junior pole-vaulter Mark Sasaki and the sprint medley relay of Salazar, Shapaka, Rudisin and junior Dan Schwartz would place sixth in their respective events.

On Feb. 4, both teams travelled to Cleveland for the annual Case Western Reserve University's Indoor Invitational.

In the men's competition, Rudisin grabbed a pair of second place finishes in the 55m and 200m dashes, falling just behind Wooster's Reggie Ray both times. Street came in seventh in the 200m and third in the 400m, less than seven-tenths of a second off the leader.

In the distance events, Oberlin placed two in the top five 3000m runners, with Roger's second-place finish and senior Colin Fishwick's fifth -place effort. Rogers was neck and neck with the eventual winner, Bill Huffman of Wooster, missing first by 0.31 seconds.

On the women's side, Stackhouse repeated her earlier performance with another 7.54 second time in the 55m dash, again netting a first-place finish in the meet. She then followed that race with another Oberlin record-breaking performance, this time in the 200m dash. Chandler was close on her heels in second while Alla placed sixth.

"You can see when she [Stackhouse] lines up for the race, she's a lot shorter than everyone else is, the other women, they just write her off," said junior David Bevacqua. "But then she just surprises all of them."

"Most people when they see me wouldn't think I was a sprinter," said Stackhouse, "or at least a really quick sprinter. I guess word is going to get out at some point."

Chandler and Alla took first and third respectively in the 400m, while Wynn earned first in the 55m hurdles and placed fifth in the high jump. Oberlin's 4x200 team, this time with Wynn replacing Nwofor, would take second at the meet, but turn in the fastest time to date in the NCAC. This year's relay continues to close on the conference record that was established, broken and reestablished by last year's Yeowomen.

Other top ten finishers included eighth place for first-year Chinyelu "Chi Chi" Ndubisi in the shot put, and in the 3000m, first year Laura Feeney, junior Jenni Huelsman and senior Medora Lytle grabbed the eighth, third and fifth spots, respectively.

As of Feb. 7, Oberlin has 12 athletes or relay teams ranked in the top 10 in their respective events in the NCAC. Stackhouse and Nwofor are first and sixth respectively in the 55m dash. Wynn is second in the 55m hurdles while Stackhouse and Chandler take the top two spots in the 200m dash. Chandler is third in the 400m with Alla ninth. Chandler also holds the top spot in the long jump. The 4x200 team holds the top time in the conference. Feeney and Huelsman are third and sixth in the 5000m.

On the men's side, Rudisin is tied for third in the 55m and is fifth in the 200m. Rogers tops the conference in the 5000m and is third in the 3000m with Fishwick 10th. The 4x200 relay is fourth overall in the conference. With the season more than half over, spirits are still high among members of both squads. All the team can do is "set your goals and get them," said Blackburn. "I have confidence that my coach and teammates will help me get there." Stackhouse had nothing but praises for the camaraderie: "The team's really friendly and nice. I really enjoy it," she said.

Looking ahead to championships, both squads are understandably optimistic. "For too long we've dwelled in the basement," said Blackburn, "and we've got the talent and the speed to show the other conference teams what we got, so look for a steady improvement all year long."

Sophomore Hans Petersen described the team's position as an enviable one. "We've got a lot of people who are running, jumping and throwing really well right now," he said. Alla agreed with that assessment. "We have the ability, strength, and mentality to dominate our conference," she said. "The only task left for us now is to win - together and as a team."

Today the Yeorunners host Case Western, Heidelberg, John Carroll, Muskingum, Otterbein and Cuyahoga Community College for the first of two Yeorunners' home meets. Both squads compete at the indoor track in Philips. Field events begin at 6 p.m. with running events starting at 7:45 p.m.