Yeorunners Deliver an Impressive Performance

On Feb. 11, almost half of the Ohio Athletic Conference came calling at the Heisman field house and brought with them some of the top track and field competitors in the Midwest. But Oberlin pride prevailed as the Yeorunners refused to be shown up on their home turf, drubbing the opposition with 17 top-five finishes from both the men's and women's teams.

For the women, first-year Courtney Stackhouse continued to dominate, tearing up the 55m dash field en route to another victory and a new field house record. She also broke her own school record in the event, which she set a month ago in her first ever college meet. Senior co-captain Christiana Nwofor took third in the race. Stackhouse and Nwofor would follow up their performances with second- and sixth-place finishes respectively in the 200m dash.

"[Courtney]'s very talented, no question," said Head Coach Tom Mulligan. "She works extremely hard. I think she has the potential to be a sprinter who will be remembered in this conference for many years."

"She's proved she's a strong runner, and, more importantly from a teammate point-of-view, she's proved she's a strong member of the team. She's blended in real well."

Oberlin's jumpers also turned in a pair of victories with junior Liz Chandler winning the long jump and sophomore Apryl Wynn taking top honors in the triple jump. Sophomore Anna Ruth was second in the high jump. Wynn and Ruth took third and fifth in the long jump as well. Wynn would end her day with a third-place finish in the 55m hurdles.

The distance runners were not to be forgotten. First-year Laura Feeney, senior Beth Spaulding and junior Jenni Huelsman took third through fifth in the 3000m run. In middle distance, sophomore Daniele Martin grabbed third in the 800m run while first-year Victoria Alla was fifth in the 500m dash. First-year Cambria Hamburg took seventh in the 1500m run.

The 4x200m relay featuring Wynn, Stackhouse, Nwofor and Chandler again took top honors and still holds the best time in the conference for the event. They are currently 1.28 seconds behind the school record set last year. The 4x400m relay of Martin, Hamburg, Alla and Chandler placed third.

"I think we're stronger than ever and still getting stronger," said Nwofor. "I think we have one of the best pools of women sprinters in the conference."

On the men's side, junior John Rogers again just narrowly missed winning the 3000m run, falling four-tenths of a second behind Aaron Hay of Heidelberg. Junior Dave Bevacqua was third and senior Colin Fishwick placed eighth.

Junior co-captain Zach Rudisin was again the Yeomen's top sprinter, taking seventh in the 55m dash. But he was no match for Muskingum's Homer Atkins, who set a new Field House record with a time of 6.45 seconds.

The men's 4x200m relay with Rudisin, junior Andre Street, first-year Josh Shapaka and junior Tim Salazar would place fourth. Unfortunately, the relay has been scratched from this coming weekend's meet at Baldwin-Wallace and Oberlin is unlikely to field a 4x200m team again this season after Shapaka pulled his hamstring and is not expected back for either indoor or outdoor season.

"This seems to always happen to us," said Rudisin. "We get struck down by injury, worn down."

"Injuries kill us. We just don't have the depth," said Rudisin.

Sophomore Hans Petersen concurred. "We have a lot of good men and women on the injured list," he said, "and we're hoping to do better when they come back."

Rudisin also noted that the men's team is very young this year, and while they're getting a lot of new people, very few are competing yet due to injuries or lack of conditioning.

While injuries and thin ranks may be disheartening, all those involved continue to focus on the positive and look to improve. "The men's team put forth a good effort," said sophomore co-captain Daniel Blackburn. "But it's not as good as we know we can do." Looking forward toward the conference championships and beyond into the outdoor season, Blackburn said, "We're aiming to get better every single week until conference and then take it up a notch."

The team isn't throwing in the towel on championships yet, especially when it comes to individual performers. Senior Colin Fishwick went as far as to promise three distance runners "scoring" (placing eighth or better) at Denison on March 3-4.

For the women, this season's continued success of the distance runners adds a new dimension to Oberlin's reinvention as a conference powerhouse. At the 1999 NCAC outdoor championships, the women's team was carried by their sprinters and jumpers to a third-place finish. At indoor championships, the team was short several sprinters due to basketball season, but still managed a fifth-place finish. With an already dominating sprint corps, coupled with the sudden emergence of a strong distance squad, the Yeowomen have high hopes for both championships.

"We can be top three in indoors," said senior co-captain Emily Lane, "and we have the potential to win outdoors." Wynn was even more optimistic. "We still lack the depth that Allegheny had last year, but I do believe we can take second," she said.

The 1999 championships were also marked by Amie Ely's (OC '99) standout performance of four individual first-place finishes at the meet. Ely's graduation left a major gap in both talent level and in leadership, and the team was uncertain what effect it would have at the season's start.

"I think we had a problem replacing Amie," said Wynn. "[However], we had a lot of people stepping up to fill the void. Liz [Chandler] is running four events each meet, I'm in five events tomorrow. Plus, there's Courtney."

"Indoors may be where we see what losing Amie means," said Lane. But she reiterated her teammate's thoughts: "We have a lot of new talent."

They'll bring that talent with them to this Friday's meet at Baldwin-Wallace. And no Yeorunner will be letting up on the intensity that has carried them this far.

Oberlin has their final home meet of the season on Feb. 25 against Bethany College, Defiance College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Walsh College and Wittenberg University.