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Pfeufer Leads Gators to Day 1 Lead
May 4, 2006
DELAWARE, Ohio – Two first-place, a second and a fourth place finish from sophomore Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s/Elk County Catholic) (right) has pushed the Allegheny College women’s track and field team into the first day lead at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships.
Allegheny has scored 89 points to pace the field, while host Ohio Wesleyan is in second place with 56 points. Wooster has 45.5 points, while Earlham is in fourth with 27 after the first day.
Pfeufer, who last weekend won the NCAC Heptathlon with a NCAA Division III Provisional qualifying total of 4,173 points, took first in the next scored event of the competition, the triple jump, with a leap of 38-0, her second best leap of the season. Elyse Kebert (Meadville) took third in the event with a leap of 35-3.25, while Amanda Grilli (Washington, Pa./Trinity) took seventh in the event, leaping to a distance of 33-4.5.
Defending NCAC champion Katie Pankowski (Pittsburgh/Woodland Hills) (left) was unseated as the top javelin thrower in the conference, as Loni Clark of Earlham out-distanced her by just over two feet, but led a contingent of four scoring Gators in the event. Pankowski tossed the spear a distance of 118-2, her second longest throw of the 2006 outdoor season, while Pfeufer took fourth with a throw of 110-11. Laura Schuh (Orchard Park, N.Y./Hamburg) and Jessica Pennisi (Milltown, N.J./East Brunswick) took sixth and seventh, with tosses of 105-2 and 102-7, respectively. Sophomore Elizabeth Earley (Venetia/Peters Township) (bottom left) nearly gave the Gators five scorers, as she fell four feet shy of eighth place.
In the high jump, Pfeufer took second, clearing a height of 5-2.25, while teammate Schuh cleared 4-11.75 to earn sixth place.
Sophomore Sarah Sammel (Pittsburgh/Bethel Park) (right) surpassed her season best in the pole vault, clearing 11-9.75, topping her season best by nearly two inches, in winning the pole vault competition by virtue of fewer misses with Jill Berner of Wooster, the indoor pole vault champion, taking her from 14th in the country to 11th, helping her chances at receiving a bid to nationals.
Earley overcame her near-scoring performance in the javelin to take the top spot in the discus, tossing to a distance of 116-6 to win the first outdoor NCAC championship of her career.
Eva Weyers (Delanson, N.Y./Duanesburg) placed third in the 10,000-meter run, finishing the 6.2-mile race in a time of 40:01.27, giving the Gators their final six points of the first day.
Competition continues tomorrow, as the Gators are looking for their seventh NCAC title in the last eight years.