Track Ends Season at Conference Championships
BY BRIAN PITTS

Two veterans, each a co-captain and former champion, rewrote the story of their disappointing 2001 spring seasons in a single weekend’s stroke of athletic genius at last week’s North Coast Athletic Conference Track and Field Championship at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Senior David Bevacqua won the last race of his Oberlin career and junior Apryl Wynn set the NCAC record in the triple jump and set the school record in the long jump. Wynn’s performance in the triple jump guaranteed her a slot in the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
The men’s team finished last among 10 teams with 23 points and the women’s squad finished third among nine teams with 99 points. At least one of Oberlin’s women finished third or higher in 10 of the 16 events in which Oberlin competed.


(photo by Brad Coryall)

Bevacqua, a distance runner, proved his mettle by placing first in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:39.08. Bevacqua ran the race at a 3,000-meter speed under a hot sun after he had run 3,000 meters in the steeplechase, where he earned fourth place. His steeplechase finish disappointed him because he was the defending NCAC outdoor champion and was more than 20 seconds slower than his championship time last year. 
Because of his “3K-speed” strategy in the 5,000-meter run, Bevacqua jumped to a quick lead. He never relinquished his margin, outdistancing his closest competitor by almost three seconds. 

Bevacqua raced the 5,000-meter run for only the second time in his Oberlin outdoor career, and the second time was the charm. He knew there would not be a third chance. 
“Every once in a while, you realize when it counts. [I realized] this is my last race ever,” Bevacqua said. He recalled watching a race where a runner he respects ran so hard that he crawled across the finish line. Bevacqua decided he needed that type of effort in his final career race. 
“You’ve never run unless you’ve run that hard. I decided to run that race. I managed to stay on my feet,” Bevacqua said.
Junior Apryl Wynn stole the show Friday with a record-breaking triple jump of 38’4.25”. Her NCAA qualifying leap is especially satisfying because Wynn barely competed in the month of April due to personal reasons. She was not expected to dominate this weekend, but the team gladly accepted her performance. 
Jumps Coach Deryl Nalle said, “We always knew Apryl could do this. But under these circumstances, I was greatly surprised and happy for her.” 
“Apryl has always been able to rise to the occasion,” Nalle said.
Wynn also rose to the occasion in the long jump and 100-meter high hurdles. She placed second in both events, finishing behind NCAA provisional qualifiers in each event. She earned 26 of Oberlin’s 99 team points — all in individual events.

Junior sprinter Nzinga Broussard helped Oberlin rack up 27 points in individual and team relay races. Broussard placed second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 100-meter dash with times of 25.58 and 12.71 seconds, respectively. She broke her NCAC Outdoor Championship record time of 25.63 that she set in 1999.

Broussard said she was gunning to set personal bests and she succeeded. She attributed her 200-meter finish to a strategy depending on speed and endurance. 
“In the first 100 [meters], I run as fast as possible. In the second 100 [meters], I allow my speed to carry me. If I’m strong, I’ll finish it,” she said.
Broussard also anchored the fourth place 4x400-meter relay squad and ran the leadoff leg for the second place 4x100-meter relay squad.

Sophomore Courtney Stackhouse anchored the 4x100-meter relay squad. Oberlin had the lead entering the final leg, but Stackhouse could not hold off Denison’s anchor. The Yeowomen finished a miniscule 12 hundredths of a second behind the winner. Stackhouse also ran the 100-meter in 12.55 seconds, earning her second place. She ran faster than last year at the NCAC Outdoor Championship where she clocked a time of 12.77 seconds, a finish that won Stackhouse the championship in 2000. She also earned sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.66 seconds.
Regarding her weekend, Stackhouse said, “There’s nothing to be not happy about.”

Junior thrower Gloria Adams scored two points for the team by placing seventh in the discus throw. According to the coaching staff, she is the first woman discus thrower to score points at the NCAC Outdoor Championship since the mid-1990’s. 
Adams’ distance of 104’3” beat her best distance entering the season by more than 20 feet. She blushed and smiled broadly after the competition, seemingly pleased with her day’s work.
“I definitely feel very good about this,” Adams said.
“I relaxed and I concentrated. I’m normally not relaxed. It takes a lot for me to calm down and feel okay about what I am doing,” she said.
Throws coach Ron Greer attributed Adams’ improvement to her hard work and more confident approach. “I’m so happy for that girl I don’t know what to do. She’s a glowing example of what hard work will do,” Greer said. “We modified her technique to fit her more aggressive style. That is what set her apart from a year ago,” he said.
Senior Mary Margaret Towey also made a mark for the women throwers. She set the school record in the hammer throw, logging a mark of 81’ 4”. The hammer throw was a non-scoring exhibition at last weekend’s championship.

First-year Shannon Houlihan placed second in the triple jump by leaping 37’9.25”. Her performance establishes Houlihan as a provisional qualifier for the NCAAs, the same honor she earned at the Indoor Championship. Houlihan also placed seventh in the long jump with a distance of 16’3” and seventh in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.36 seconds.
Senior co-captain Liz Chandler once again strung together an impressive series of performances. She garnered third in the long jump with a jump of 16’10”. Chandler rebounded from a sub-par qualifying round from which she barely made the final round to jump her longest distance of the season. Chandler also earned fourth in the triple jump and ran the third leg of the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay squads. 
Sophomore co-captain Laura Feeney finished sixth in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs.
Senior distance runner and co-captain Daniel Schwartz placed eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and junior Greg Wells finished eighth in the javelin throw.

First-year Alisha Thomas ran the second leg of the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays, and she placed eighth in the 200-meter dash. Thomas placed ninth in the javelin throw, one spot away from earning points for the team.

 

Track Ends Season at Conference Championships

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