Gator Teams Lead After 1st Day at NCAC’s

Mar 4, 2005

Championship Web Site

GRANVILLE, Pa. – Following the first day of competition at the 2005 NCAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Allegheny College men’s and women’s teams are both first in the team point race.

Allegheny’s men, which is gunning for its third consecutive NCAC title, has 42 points to double up second place Ohio Wesleyan University’s 21 points. The women’s team has scored 41.5 points to hold a 10.5-point advantage over second place OWU, while host Denison (Ohio) University is in third with 20.5. The meet will conclude on Saturday with 13 event finals for the men and 12 on the women’s side.

On the men’s side, a pair of Gators won conference championships in their events, including sophomore thrower Pat Confer (Bradford, Pa.). With a best effort of 49-5¼, Confer (left) took first place in the shot put by nearly a foot over Earlham’s Dan Reis.

Led by senior Kevin Pool (New Windsor, Md./ Westminster), the Gators dominated the 5,000, taking the top three spots and adding a seventh place finish. Pool took first in the event with a time of 14:55.80, but was followed closely by junior Chris Carrier (Lyndhurst, Ohio/ Charles F. Brush) in second place (14:59.13) and senior Jeff Conroy (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Baldwin) in third (15:14.16). Sophomore Marco Dozzi (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Chartiers Valley) crossed in seventh place overall (15:47.52).

Three other Gators scored in the day’s only other final, the triple jump. Sophomore Mark Dobish (New Wilmington, Pa./ Wilmington) jumped 40-11¾ in the triple jump to place sixth overall. Grabbing seventh place was junior Sean Laird (Monroeville, Pa./ Gateway) with a jump of 40-5¾ and freshman Justin Schwab (Kill Buck, N.Y./ Salamanca) rounded out the scorers with an eighth place showing (39-11).

The highlight of the preliminaries came in the 55-meter dash, where junior RaShawn Allen (Columbus, Ohio/ St. Charles Prep) registered the fastest time by finishing in 6.61 seconds. Sophomore Josh Rhue (Brimley, Mich./ Clonlara) also made tomorrow’s final by placing third with a time of 6.64 seconds. Rhue (23.29) and Allen (23.49) will also compete in tomorrow’s 200 final after coming in fifth and seventh respectively in the prelims.

Other Gators who will be gunning for individual NCAC titles tomorrow include junior Dave Griffin (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Montour) after he placed fourth in the 55 hurdles (8.30) and junior Sean Flynn (Kensington, Conn./ Xavier) and junior Mark Delaney (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Mt. Lebanon) will run in the 800 final after crossing in fourth (2:01.28) and eighth (2:01.80) respectively.

The women’s side did not see any conference titles, but several strong performances to put the Gators in good position for tomorrow. The field events opened the day and saw freshman Liz Earley (Venetia, Pa./ Peters Township) and freshman Krystal Baldwin (N. Middlesex, Mass.) finish second (37-0) and third (36-2) in the shot put.

A pair of Gators also scored in the pole vault, as freshman Sarah Sammel (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Bethel Park) tied for third place (9-8) and freshman Glenna Kramer (Oakdale, Pa./ West Allegheny) vaulted to seventh place (8-0), while in the triple jump, freshman Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s, Pa./ Elk County Catholic) and senior Erika Almquist (Lexington, Mass.) placed sixth (33-5¼) and seventh (33-3) respectively.

In the only final on the track Friday, Allegheny took three of the top eight spots in the 5,000. Senior Lindsey Shouey (Franklin, Pa.) (right) took second with a time of 17:57.08, while senior teammate Leigh Ciofani (McKees Rocks, Pa./ Montour) placed third (18:10.50) and senior Katie Kuba (Buckhannon, W.Va.) was eighth (19:10.84).

In preliminary action, senior Leah Shouey (Franklin, Pa.) will lead a trio of AC runners in the 800 final tomorrow. Shouey earned the top seed for tomorrow’s race with a time of 2:23.71, while sophomore Lindsey Svetlak (Lowellville, Ohio) was third (2:26.31) and freshman Molly McGravey (Orchard Park, N.Y.) was seventh (2:29.34).

Also moving onto tomorrow’s finals is freshman Caitlin Nay (Uniontown, Ohio/ Green) in the 55-hurdles after placing eighth (9.41), sophomore Rashelle Glass (New Castle, Pa./ Shenango) in the 400 (fifth-1:02.49) and Sammel in the 55 (eighth-7.79).

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