Gators Track Teams Compete at Western PA Championships

Apr 2, 2005

Results

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Despite the cold, wet weather conditions, the Allegheny College men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Western Pennsylvania Championships Saturday, held at Carnegie Mellon University. The men’s team scored 33.5 points to place seventh out of 15 teams, while the women’s team totaled 24 points to place 10th out of 14 teams.

The meet was mix of NCAA Division I, II and II schools, as well as NAIA programs. While the Gator men were seventh overall, they came in second behind only Carnegie Mellon among DIII schools. The women’s team was also third behind CMU and Thiel College and finished ahead of the other four Division III programs at the meet.

The University of Pittsburgh easily won the women’s side, while Robert Morris University edged Pittsburgh by 1.5 points to take the men’s title.

All of points for the Gator women came from the field events, as many of the AC runners were scratched because of the weather conditions. Freshman Liz Earley (Venetia, Pa./ Peters Township) started the meet Friday meet by placing fifth in the hammer throw with a best effort of 129 feet, 11 inches. On Saturday, she also took fifth in the shot put with a throw of 37-7.75. In both events, she was the top finisher from a non-Division I school.

Freshman jumper Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s, Pa./ Elk County Catholic) also scored in two events, as she placed fourth in the long jump (16-6.50) and tying for sixth place in the high jump by clearing 4-8.25. Senior Erika Almquist (Lexington, Mass.) was the other Gator to score at the meet, as she took fifth place in the high jump and was the top DIII jumper with an effort of 4-10.25.

The Allegheny men’s team also had many of its runners scratched due to the weather, but some of the Gator distance runners braved the conditions to post impressive finishes. Highlighting the day was junior Chris Carrier (Lyndhurst, Ohio/ Charles F. Brush) (right), who was second in the 3,000 Steeplechase with a time of 9:39.99.

Other top efforts were turned in senior Jeff Conroy (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Baldwin), who took fourth place overall in the 1,500 behind only winner Mike Booth from Robert Morris and a pair of Duquesne runners by crossing in a time of 4:07.24. Freshman Ryan Place (Meshoppen, Pa./ Elk Lake) also scored, as he took seventh place (4:12.24).

Other distance runners totaling points were junior David Shope (Gaithersburg, Md./ Montgomery Blair), who took fourth in the 10,000 (34:10.4), and the Gators’ 4x800 relay team that finished fourth in a time of 8:01.8.

Two other AC runners earned eighth place in their events, as freshman Craig Ball (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Baldwin) scored a point in the 800 (2:02.12) and junior Dave Griffin (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Montour) was eighth in the 400 hurdles (58.16).

Sophomore Pat Confer (Bradford, Pa./ Bradford Area) led the Gator efforts in the field by taking sixth place in a pair of events. On Friday night, he was the top DIII competitor in the hammer throw with a heave of 135-03 and recorded the best effort by a non-Division I thrower in the shot put with a throw of 46-5.5.

Freshman Justin Schwab (Kill Buck, N.Y./ Salamanca) rounded out the top eight placements by tying for eighth in the high jump after clearing 5-10.

Both Gator teams will return to the track and hope for better weather at next Saturday’s Washington & Jefferson Invitational, which will feature Carnegie Mellon and NCAC-rival Denison (Ohio) University.

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