Gator Women Win Eighth Title

Mar 4, 2006

NCAC Final Results (PDF)
Photogallery

GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators won their eighth North Coast Athletic Conference title in 2006, out-distancing Ohio Wesleyan University 148-to-116 at the indoor championships hosted by Denison University.

Leading the way for the Gators was Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s/Elk County Catholic), who was named the Field Event Athlete of the Meet, while head coach Bill Ross was named the women’s NCAC Coach of the Year. Pfeufer took first place in the triple jump with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying mark, while also setting the conference meet record. She also took second in the long jump and third in the high jump en route to the honor.

“The women’s team stepped it up big time for this meet, because they knew that they were not the favorites coming in,” said Ross. “So many of the events where we were just in the picture, we had to step it up. Probably the biggest turnaround for us was the fact that our sprinters came through for us real big – Liz Straus in the 400, Sammel and Stewart in the 55 and the 200 – getting some valuable points there because we were unsure of what we were going to get. Then the girls in the 800 just blew it open for us, and that is what really got it for us, they did a fantastic job going 2,3,4.”

The Gators, who came into the meet with a 13-point lead over Ohio Wesleyan after the first day, saw the advantage dissolve in the first event of the second day, the high jump. Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s/Elk County Catholic) surprised the competition with a season-best leap of 5-2, but the Bishops placed three in the event, first, fourth and fifth, to knot the score at 48.

Allegheny re-took their lead in the long jump, as the duo of Pfeufer and Amanda Grilli (Washington/Trinity) took second and fourth, respectively. Pfeufer jumped 17-3.5, while Grilli topped her season best with a leap of 16-5.00. The jumps gave Allegheny 13 points in the event, the Blue and Gold’s advantage grew to 11, one that the Gators would not give up for the remainder of the meet, after OWU grabbed the two points for a seventh place finish.

The 4x200-meter relay team of Katie Stewart (Warren/Warren Area), Liz Straus (Kirtland, Ohio), Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s/Elk County Catholic) and Sarah Sammel (Pittsburgh/Bethel Park) gave the Blue and Gold more breathing room with a third place finish, crossing the line in a time of 1:49.92, just .01 from second place Kenyon. With the six points from the event, and Ohio Wesleyan failing to score, the Gator lead was pushed to 17.

The scores remained even after the mile, as Molly McGravey (Orchard Park, N.Y.) and Scarlett Graham (Farmington/Uniontown) took third and fourth, with Carley Latus (Pittsburgh/Mt. Lebanon) filing in for seventh place. McGravey’s time of 5:14.24 was just off of her season best, while Graham’s and Latus’ times of 5:14.77 and 5:21.09 were season bests, respectively. The 13 points the Gators earned equaled the total of the Bishops, who placed first and fifth.

The Gators added more cushion between second place, with Elyse Kebert (Meadville) and Jessica Gratton (Bridgeville/Chartiers Valley) placing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 55-meter hurdles. With the times of 9.12 and 9.34, the lead grew to 26, with Allegheny leading Ohio Wesleyan 89-63.

The Bishops put a push in during the 400-meter dash, as OWU scored 18 points to just five by the Gators, cutting the 26-point Allegheny lead in half at 94-81. Liz Straus (Kirtland, Ohio) took fourth in the event with a time of 1:02.71, nearly a second better than her previous best this year.

In the distance medley relay, the Gators forged ahead with their lead, as the team of Eva Weyers (Delanson, N.Y.), Jaime Shinn (Edinboro/General McLane), Lindsay Svetlak (Lowellville, Ohio) and Michelle Corkum (McMurray/Peters Township) placed third with a time of 12:59.67, just .48 off of second place Oberlin. With the six points from that event, and Ohio Wesleyan earning three, the Gators pushed their advantage to 100-84.

Stewart and Sammel scored nine unanswered points for the Gators in the 55-meter dash, placing fourth and fifth, respectively. Stewart ran a time of 7.77, while Sammel crossed the line in 7.84. With the nine points, the Gator lead increased to 25 at 109-84.

In the 800, the Gators showed their mid-distance dominance, in placing second, third and fourth, out-scoring the Bishops 19-8, pushing their lead to 128-92. Rashelle Glass (New Castle/Shenango) (left) placed second for the Blue and Gold in a time of 2:22.30, while Carley Latus (Pittsburgh/Mt. Lebanon) and Caroline LaRochelle (Meadville) finished right behind with times of 2:24.21 and 2:24.53, respectively.

The Bishops took three points away from Allegheny in the 200-meter dash, as Stewart and Sammel’s combined five points in the event were just shy of the Bishop second place finish’s total of eight. Stewart placed sixth with a time of 27.87, while Sammel crossed the finish line in a time of 27.93.

Up by 33 with two events to go, the Gators placed fifth and sixth in the 3,000-meter run, securing the victory for the Gators. Graham and Weyers ran times of 10:40.89 and 10:45.48, respectively, in the race.

With the event at hand, the Gators finished off the meet with a second place finish in the 4x400-meter relay as Glass, Latus, Straus and Heather Knupp (Canonsburg/Canon-McMillian), who teamed up to run a time of 4:15.60.

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