The Oberlin indoor track teams traveled to Denison University last weekend to compete in the NCAC championships. Many team members gave strong performances, including senior Shannon Houlihan, who received the honor of being named NCAC Outstanding Women’s Field Athlete of the Year for the indoor season.

Sophomore Adam Morse told the Review that he was extremely proud of the team’s performances last weekend. “We have so many inspiring [athletes] that put on beautiful performances constantly.”

With a jump of 36’7”, Houlihan took first in the triple jump for the fourth year in a row and qualified for Nationals in the event. She finished in fourth for the long jump with 15’11” and ran the 55m hurdles in 9.02 for second place.

Houlihan was also on the 4x200m relay team, which came in second with 1:48.61, with juniors Teresa Collins and Magdalen Dale and first-year Danielle Brooks.

Collins followed Houlihan in the triple jump with a distance of 35’5” and finished third in the 400m run with 59.22. Her preliminary time for the 400m run qualified Collins for Nationals with 58.72, and broke the Oberlin school record in the event. She ran the 200m run in 26.77 for fourth place as well.

Fifth place in the same event went to Brooks, who had a time of 27.37 and ran the 55m dash in 7.60, putting her in fourth place.

Junior Leslie Bosworth, also a member of the 4x400m relay team with Dale, Collins and sophomore Carmen Welton, finished fourth in 9.08 for the 55m hurdles. The relay team placed third with a time of 4:10.5.

Welton went on to break a school record with her preliminary time as well. Her time of 2:22.82 outdid the previous performance, and she claimed fourth for the 800m finals with 2:25.45. Sophomore Tamara White placed eighth in the event, running 2:30.15.

Overall the women’s team scored 82.0 for fourth place in the championships, while Denison placed in first with 175.0, Ohio Wesleyan had 112.0 and Allegheny 93.0.

The men’s team accumulated 34 points for eighth place.

Sophomore pole vaulter Shean Perry, who broke his own school record from the previous meet, vaulted 14’00” for first place. “[Perry’s] jumping has improved so much in such a short amount of time,” said Morse.

Junior Bret Petersen ran 51.60 in the 400m finals for third place.

Taking fifth in 6.68 in the 55m dash was first-year Edo Bedzra. He also placed sixth in the 200m finals by running 23.37.

Fellow first-year Matt Ferris-Smith came in eighth with 2:03.30 for the 800m finals.

Running a time of 1:34.71, the 4x200m relay team finished in fifth. The runners were first-years Quentin Jones and Micah Petersen and seniors Will Miller and Jeremy Lane.

The improvements this year’s team has made hves been aided by the addition of Mike Reilly as a new coach. “After almost every race he sends us encouraging e-mails about our performances,” said Morse.

The distance medley relay team ran 10:59.10 for fifth place and consisted of first-year Ben Stanley, sophomore Dan Keeney, junior Travis Oman and senior Brad Coryell.

The tightly knit team forms a camaraderie that makes running enjoyable. “There is no better group of guys that I can think of that I would rather run with then the guys that I get to call my teammates every day,” said Morse.

The national competition will be held on March 12 and 13 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.