Young Gators Set for NCAC's

Feb 29, 2008

MEADVILLE, Pa. – After having their two-year conference win streak snapped, the Allegheny College Gators look to rebound and increase their conference-leading championship win total to 9 at the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference championship meet hosted by Denison University.

If the Gators are going to have success, it will stem from a pair of key seniors on this years’ squad, 2007 All-Americans Liz Earley (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) and Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s, Pa./Elk County Catholic). A season ago Earley and Pfeufer earned All-America honors in the weight throw and the triple jump, respectively, and head track & field coach Bill Ross knows that their leadership is what can give the squad the proper motivation.

“There is a certain level of the rest of the team having confidence that the pair can go in and do well in their events,” said Ross. “They are also very good leaders, vocally, organizationally and everything else. They are both very good leader by both what they do and what they say.”

Earley is the clear favorite in the shot put, leading the field by nearly a foot and a half, while leading by nearly ten feet in the unscored weight throw, an event that she has provisionally qualified to the national meet and is ranked fourth in the country.

Pfeufer, the reigning indoor Field Athlete of the Year, is seeded in the top eight in four different events, including the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 55-meter hurdles. She is in a tie for seventh in the hurdles, tied for fifth in the high jump and leads both the long and triple jumps by over a foot. Adding depth to the jumps are first-year athletes Emily Norton (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore), seeded fifth in the long and 9th in the triple and Laura Heltman (Mars, Pa./Mars), seeded eighth in the triple.

Liz Straus (Kirtland, Ohio/Kirtland) will be looked to add points in the high jump where she is seeded fourth, while classmate Sarah Sammel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park), after missing last seasons’ championships with an injury, is seeded in a tie for first, after clearing 10-6 earlier this season.

The Gator distance trio of senior Eva Weyers (Delanson, N.Y./Duanesburg), sophomore Mia Symoniak (Synder, N.Y./Amherst Central) and freshman Rachel Hutchinson (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) are entered in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs, with Symoniak, Weyers and Hutchinson seeded second, third and fourth, respectively in the 3,000-meter run, while the same trio are ranked second, third and eighth in the 3.1-mile race.

First-year runner Rebecca Lendyak (Cowansville, Pa./Ford City) is seeded third in the 55-meter dash, and is sixth in the 200 – the Gators’ top competitor in each. Classmate Ogechi Nwokedi (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) is the leader in the 800-meter run coming into the finals, after her time of 2:19.58 is over a second ahead of the next athlete. Milers Katie Stancik (Russell, Ohio/Chagrin Falls) and Claire LeMasters (Shadyside, Ohio/St. John Central) are also in their first conference meet situation, with Stancik seeded third and LeMasters ninth heading into the competition.

Initially it would look like the team is relying heavily on the freshman runners, but Ross has different expectations for the runners in their first taste of NCAC Championship competition. “The only expectation I have on them is to learn from this experience,” said the Gator head coach. “In my opinion, it is foolish for a coach to place a lot of expectations on a freshman. They have not run this type of a race yet. Yes, they have something similar in high school, but not this one. A lot of these athletes that we have running for us have never run indoor and they have had just four meets to prepare for this.”

Events get underway on Friday at 2:00 p.m.

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