http://www.allegheny.edu
Gator Pair Compete at NCAC Multi-Events
May 1, 2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators got the North Coast Athletic Conference championships started at the 2007 NCAC Multi-Event Championships. Sophomore Peter Sotherland (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Central) placed sixth overall at the championships, while Chris DiVietro (Wenonah, N.J./Bishop Eustace) missed scoring by just 29 points, taking ninth in the competition.
The decathlon is a ten-event competition, with the scoring not coming based on finish among the competitors, but on a conversion chart.
The Gator duo got off to a slow start, with Sotherland tying for sixth place in the 100-meter dash, earning 631 points after a time of 12.10, while DiVietro placed ninth of the ten competitors with a time of 12.33, earning 588 points. An event later, in the long jump, Sotherland and DiVietro placed in a tie for seventh and ninth, respectively. Sotherland’s distance of 16-10.25 earned him 409 points while DiVietro’s 16-8 gave him 398, putting the former in eighth place overall and the latter in ninth heading into the third event.
DiVietro dominated the shot put competition, winning with a toss of 37-8.75, earning 576 points, giving him 1,562 for the championships, and pushing him into fourth place overall. Sotherland also was competitive in the event, placing fifth with a distance of 31-0, earning 453 points, dropping him to ninth after his teammate’s monstrous throw.
In the fourth event, the high jump, DiVietro cleared 5-0.5 to tie for sixth place, earning 419 points while Sotherland cleared 4-3.25, giving him 250 points. DiVietro rounded out the first day by placing seventh in the 400-meter dash, running the one-lap race in a time of 56.06 for 557 points for 2,538 points, placing him seventh after the first five events and Sotherland 56.47 for 541 points, giving him 2,284 for ninth place heading into the final five events.
Leading off the second day, Sotherland placed third in the 110-meter hurdles, sprinting to a time of 17.15, earning 2,893 points, moving into seventh place, while DiVietro dropped to ninth overall, earning 270 points after running a time of 21.07. DiVietro made up for his time in the hurdles by winning the discus throw by almost five meters, tossing the disc 115-10, earning 570 points and catapulting him into sixth place. Sotherland placed fourth in the event with a toss of 94-6, earning 441 points and dropping him into a tie for seventh place.
Sotherland’s top event, the pole vault, followed with the sophomore leaping 14-1.25, earning 702 points and moving him into fifth place overall with 4,036 points. DiVietro placed in a tie for fifth in the event, clearing 11-1.75 and giving him 457 points, dropping him to sixth, directly behind Sotherland with 3,835 points.
The Gators struggled in the javelin throw, with Sotherland leading the pair with a throw of 119-6, earning 391 points, but keeping the sophomore in fifth place while DiVietro dropped to seventh overall, as the senior’s throw of 111-10 earned him 357 points. The weekend concluded with the 1,500-meter run, with the pair finishing with a point of each other, Sotherland placing eighth with a time of 5:31.40, earning 393 points, while DiVietro earned 392 points with his time of 5:31.40.
The Gators look to take their three points to the championships hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University on Thursday and Friday, May 3 and 4.