Track team competes in All-Ohio meet

Very competetive meet yields results for men and women

The outdoor track team traveled to Ohio Wesleyan University last Saturday for the annual All-Ohio Track and Field Championships. The competition was fierce and the women's team ended up 15th out of 17 teams while the men took 13th. A few Yeomen and Yeowomen placed with strong individual performances, an impressive feat for a state tournament.

"It was a very competitive meet," Coach Tom Mulligan said. "It's all the Division III teams in the state of Ohio and there are some very good track and field competitors in this state."

Mulligan said there were no surprises in his athletes performances. "The people that are doing well are the people that have been doing well overall, through practicing hard and competing hard."

Junior Harsha Thirumurthy was one of only two male athletes from the North Coast Athletic Conference to win an event, running a 32:26.4 in the 10-kilometer run.

Sophomore Gil Saenz was the only other scoreer on the men's side, placing fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a 56.40. "They're weren't a lot of people who scored from our conference," Mulligan said. "Gil was one of them."

For the women, junior Trista Thornberry took third in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:58 and the 4-by-400-relay team grabbed sixth, running a 4:14.3. The relay team consisted of first-year Rebecca Grossman, sophomore Sarah Allen, first-year Nicole James and sophomore Amie Ely.

James is a transfer from the College of Wooster where she used to run indoor track. This was her first meet in over a year and she helped the relay team to drop over ten seconds off of their time. Assistant Track Coach Tom Smith said, "She ran solidly."

James said, "I think the meet went pretty well. We dropped some seconds off of our best time. We just need to find the right combination of runners. It was a good experience because I got to look at the competition and get a feel for next year."

Smith cited two other runners who will soon make their mark on the conference. "[Senior] Melissa Barnard came off of an injury to run. She maybe something of a dark horse in the hurdles because no-one on the conference has heard of her, but they will soon. Sophomore David Ellis will make his debut on Saturday. He's been injured since the indoor season. We'll go from average to very, very competitive with him in the relays."

Ellis said, "I'm a little scared because I haven't run since the indoor season. I'm running the anchor link of the 4-by-100-meter, the open 100-meter for fun, and the 200-meter to get placed for the conference. The conference [championship] will be fun, we're going to be very competitive in the 4x100 and 4x400."

Mulligan wanted to commend the efforts of first-year Rick Kocher, a javelin thrower whose never thrown before. "Every week he throws farther and farther. He's starting to catch on to this thing."

The coach also mentioned first-year Lisa Mickley as good new running blood. "It's her first time running track. She's going to be a competitive runner in the conference, she ran a 5:13 which is really good for a first-time runner."

Smith works with the sprinters and he said that the team has been working to peak their training for the last week in April. This coincides deliberately with the conference championship May 3 at Wittenberg University. "You train so you do your best at particular times in the season," Smith said.

"At the conference championship nest Saturday we need to be mentally at our best, the best in over two weeks," Mulligan said.

Before this the team will compete at a meet at John Carroll University on Saturday. Mulligan said, "John Carroll will be a tune-up for the championship. We will run people in different events from what they're used to. It's important to come out of the meet feeling confident before we go to Wittenberg."

"Everyone knows what they have to improve upon. Everyone is looking to put their best foot forward," James said.