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Gators Get Three Wins at NCAC's
February 29, 2008
GRANVILLE, Ohio – Three first place finishes in four first-day events have the Allegheny College Gators sitting in first place through four events at the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference championships hosted by Denison University. Seniors Liz Earley (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township), Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and Sarah Sammel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) picked up first-place finishes in the shot put, triple jump and pole vault, respectively.
The Gators accumulated 42 overall points on the day, two ahead of second-place Oberlin with 40. Ohio Wesleyan (23), Wittenberg (16.5), Wooster (15), Kenyon (6) and Earlham (4) round out the teams that scored on the opening afternoon.
Earley got the meet started with a bang for the Gators, as the 2007 champion defended her title in a big way, setting a school record with a toss of 42-11.75, pictured at the beginning of the story, breaking the old school record of 42-0 set by Sandy Starr in 1986. Additioanlly Early met the NCAA provisional qualifying mark, and currently sits 18th in Division III. With the win, Earley gave the Gators a two-point lead over Oberlin, a four point lead over Wittenberg and a five-point advantage over Ohio Wesleyan, Denison and Wooster.
Pfeufer became the conference’s fourth three-time winner of the triple jump, topping the field by nearly a foot with a leap of 36-5.0, a season-best leap for the senior. Emily Norton (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore) took eighth place overall with a leap of 31-8.5, a season- and career-best for the freshman, earning the Gators another point towards the team championships. Despite the 11 points earned by Allegheny, Ohio Wesleyan closed the gap with 13 points, cutting the Gator lead to three at 21-18 with Wittenberg (12) and Wooster (11) still in the hunt for the title.
The Gators got their third top finish in as many tries as Sammel took first in the field in the pole vault, becoming the first Gator to win the event since Jen Surace cleared 10-2 in 2003. With the 10 points, the Gators distanced themselves from recently second place Ohio Wesleyan, but now have a new closest competitor, Oberlin. With the 10 points Allegheny pushes themselves to 31 points, nine more than Oberlin’s 22 and 13 more than Ohio Wesleyan’s 18.
In the final scoring event of the afternoon, the Gator distance tandem of Eva Weyers (Delanson, N.Y./Duanesburg) and Rachel Hutchinson (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) placed third and fourth, respectively, running times of 18:25.70 and 18:31.99. The 11 points scored by the Gators was negated only by the Yeowomen’s 18 points from the 1-2 finish.
The Gators will look to earn the NCAC title in the league championship’s final day, starting with the high jump at 10:30 a.m.