Gators Prepare for NCAC's

Mar 1, 2007

MEADVILLE, Pa. – After winning back-to-back league titles in 2005 and 2006, the Allegheny College Gators will be wearing a new shoe for the 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, the shoe of the underdog. The underdog Gators, however, will not back down, and will look to the experience of their two outdoor NCAA Division III National Qualifiers, Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and Liz Earley (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township), to push the squad to a hopeful three-peat.

Pfeufer, the 2006 NCAC Indoor and Outdoor Field Event Athlete of the Year, is scheduled to compete in three individual events, and is ranked second in both the long and triple jumps and fifth in the high jump, while Earley is seeded first in the shot put, leading the event by over two and a half feet.

2006 runner-up Ohio Wesleyan looks the part of the favorite, having two top-eight performers in all but two events – the pole vault and the shot put.

“Ohio Wesleyan is definitely the clear favorite,” said head coach and 2006 NCAC Indoor and Outdoor Women’s Coach of the Year Bill Ross. “They had a very good recruiting class, and those women are making a huge impact on the program immediately. With all of the returnees that they have coming back, and with all of the freshmen added in there, they are definitely the favorites. We need to try to hold as close to Ohio Wesleyan as we possibly can and see what happens.”

The strength for the Gator squad this year is in one of the weak events for the Bishops, the shot put, as Earley and two first-years are seeded in the top five coming into the championships. In addition to Earley, who has a top throw of 40-feet, three-quarters inch, Sophia Braden (Farmington, Mich./Roeper) and Kristen Angelo (Hubbard, Ohio/Hubbard) are ranked third and fifth, respectively, the former with a top distance of 37-4 and the latter 35-4.75.

One negative about the league championships is that only the shot put is held for the throwers, as the league is still researching the addition of the weight throw, an event in which Earley has provisionally qualified to the NCAA Division III National Meet and Angelo has the third best toss in the league. “It is a shame that we only have one throwing event indoors, for obvious reasons, when there are two held at the National Meet with the shot and the weight throw,” said Ross. “It would be nice to have the full gamut of events. The three of our throwers have been making some steady improvements, especially the newcomers, and we will look to get some valuable points out of them.”

Pfeufer’s jumps of 17-0.5 in the long jump and 36-5 in the triple are each ranked second in the league, the latter just an inch from the top seed, while her 5-0 height in the high jump is the fifth highest height entering this weekend’s competition. Pfeufer has also been active on the squad in the running events, competing in the 55- and 200-meter dashes, the 55-meter hurdles, and looks to help the squad in multiple relays during the weekend.

“She has some competition in our conference this year,” said the head coach. “It is always very difficult for her to practice her events in our indoor complex. She is sitting at the top of the list, but there are people right there that can knock her out of the picture if she doesn’t have a strong day. She is a very determined athlete”

The distance duo of senior Michelle Corkum (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) and freshman Mia Symoniak (Snyder, N.Y./Amherst Central) is set to run the 3,000-, 5,000-meter double. Corkum is ranked second in the 5,000 in a time of 18:36.32 with Symoniak close behind in fifth place with a seed time of 18:57.88. The pair is reversed in the 3,000, with Symoniak ranked fourth in a time of 10:48.36 and Corkum fifth in a time of 10:49.96.

Freshmen Hannah Smith (Rice Lake, Wisc./Rice Lake) and Sarah Holick (Hillsborough, N.J./Mt. St. Mary Academy) are each ranked in the top five in their respective events. Smith is ranked fourth in the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 9.04, while Holick is ranked fifth in the 400-meter run, and has ran the two-lap event in a time of 1:03.16 earlier this season.

The championships begin on Friday, March 2 with the women’s pole vault and triple jump starting at 2:00 p.m. and ending with the 200-meter trials slated to begin at 6:55 p.m. The second day will start on Saturday with the long jump at 10:30 a.m. and will come to a close with a 5:45 p.m. awards ceremony.

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