Yeorunners Trample Competition At Championships

Women Gain Best Finish in Team History

Top half of the conference? Without question. Top three? Sure, we can do that. Challenge Allegheny for second? Could be.

Take second, set five school and two conference records, have eight top-three finishers in 16 events and have team members voted Sprinter of the Year and Field Athlete of the Year? That'd be impressive.

Able to leap small obstacles in a single bound: Sophomore Anna Ruth practices her form. (photo by Brian Hodgkin)

The Oberlin Women's Indoor Track and Field team did all of the above last Friday and Saturday at the North Coast Athletic Conference indoor championships. The Yeowomen scored a total of 96 points, beating perennial powerhouse Allegheny College by 11 en route to the best finish in team history. Host Denison University repeated as champion for the third straight year.

"We definitely made our presence in the conference felt, and I think other teams now see us as a force to be reckoned with," said sophomore Apryl Wynn.

"The only thing more impressive than our performance would have been a pink elephant juggling Volkswagens," said first-year Vicki Alla.

Sprints was the name of the Yeowomen's game, as first-year phenom Courtney Stackhouse won the 55m and 200m dashes, setting new school and conference records in both. She went on to be voted Outstanding Women's Sprinter of the Year by the conference's coaches. Seniors Chamia Peterson and Christiana Nwofor were close on her heels in the 55m dash, placing second and sixth, respectively. Junior Liz Chandler would take sixth in both the 200 and 400m, capping a 12-point day for her.

The 55m dash turned into one of the tightest races in recent memory. Positions two through seven were separated by only .13 sec. "I was really, really nervous going into [the race]," said Stackhouse, "but normally when you get down into the blocks you just forget about it. Actually, Chamia got out of the blocks really well and that kinda scared me, made me run faster."

The team expected a strong performance from their sprinters, but looked to their new depth in the jumps events and distance races to propel them towards first. The jumpers responded in force, scoring 33 points in three different events. Peterson captured her third straight long jump title and set a new Oberlin school record in her last indoor meet. Chandler and Wynn took third and fifth in the long jump, respectively. Wynn took top honors in the triple jump, setting another OC record, and sophomore Anna Ruth was sixth in the high jump. Wynn's finishes at the meet netted her the Outstanding Women's Field Athlete of the Year award.

The relay teams also continued to be a strong point for Oberlin. The 4x200m team of Wynn, Stackhouse, Nwofor and Chandler lost a neck-and-neck race with Denison for first-place, but set another OC record in finishing second.

"That was really heartbreaking because it was Christiana's last chance to run it," said Stackhouse refering to the loss. "We ran a school record so you can't judge it to harshly. But we just couldn't get it at the end."

Oberlin had held the best time in the event in the conference for most of the season prior to losing that top ranking to Denison on the last week of the regular season. The distance medley team of first-year Cambria Hamburg, Alla and juniors Daniele Martin and Beth Spaulding was third.

Other point winners for the Yeowomen included first-year Laura Feeney placing sixth and junior Jenni Huelsman placing eighth in the 3000m. The 55m hurdles, in the past the sole domain of Yeowomen great Amie Ely, included two strong competitors from OC this year in Ruth and Wynn. The pair would take seventh and eighth respectively.

"I think it's pretty amazing that our team is as small as it is and we still managed to get second place," said Huelsman. "[We're] different from other schools because they have different people running different events."

The Yeomen didn't fair nearly as well over either day of the meet. The OC men scraped together 15.5 points, but were unable to climb out of last place. Junior David Bevacqua turned in another nail-biter of a race in the 3000m, coming close to catching eventual winner Brock Babcock of Denison. Bevacqua was third, just three seconds from winning. Junior John Rogers was seventh, five seconds behind his teammate.

The men's sprint and relay teams, while not as stacked as their female counterparts, have been making their own mark in the conference over the regular season. But injuries and a general lack of meet experience would hamper efforts all weekend. The only sprinter to place would be sophomore Andre Street who tied Ohio Wesleyan's Daren Michalski for third in the 400m dash. Junior co-captain Zach Rudisin was slowed by an old heel injury and didn't make either the 55m or 200m finals as was expected.

Oberlin didn't have the men available to field a distance medley relay, and had manpower problems of a different sort on both the 4x200 and 4x400 teams. "We had maybe two legs in each [relay]," said Rudisin. "For the other two, it was either their [the runner's] first time or they weren't sprinters."

Despite having the same depth problems all season, the men didn't head into championships with any low expectations.

"We all felt pretty good," said Rudisin. "I don't think there was an overwhelming excitement, but we weren't planning on getting last."

As for what awaits the teams in the outdoor season, players and coaches alike remain in high spirits.

"They can easily repeat and get second," said sprints coach Anne Gilbert, "but I think they can compete for first."

Wynn agreed: "Coming into outdoor season we're definitely going to be a stronger team." Distance coach Roger Laushman noted that a number of distance runners were out of the indoor season with injury, but will return in the coming weeks. And with the addition of reigning 100m and 200m champion in sophomore returnee Nzinga Broussard, a more-than-formidable sprint team gets even stronger.

Referring to the friendly competition between last year's outdoor champion Broussard, Stackhouse said, "I don't really see it as a competition or anything, I'm looking forward to sharing the track with her."

Rudisin doesn't foresee any new additions on the near horizon, a troubling thought following the indoor season. "We always need more people," he said. "The thing we're really looking for is ones with experience."

"They're good athletes," he said, referring to the current batch of sprinters, "but we need to get them experience. And that takes time."

Whatever the injury or numbers situation turns out to be, opponents should know that neither team plans to go down without a fight. Senior co-captain Medora Lytle said, "We will vanquish all our enemies and leave them crying like wee girls."

Strong words. With stronger credentials to back them up.