Gators Fall in Tight Championship

Mar 1, 2008

FULL RESULTS

GRANVILLE, Ohio – In the second closest finish in North Coast Athletic Conference championships history, the Allegheny College women’s squad took second place, two behind champion Ohio Wesleyan, despite a NCAC Field Athlete of the Year honor from senior Emily Pfeufer (St. Mary’s, Pa./Elk County Catholic), who won two events; the long and triple jumps; while placing fifth in the high jump.

Ohio Wesleyan led the pack on the women’s side with 154 points, while Allegheny finished with 152. Oberlin (123), Wittenberg (53.5), Wooster (42), Denison (36.5), Kenyon (27), Earlham (23) and Hiram (13) rounded out the teams in the field.

Yet another Allegheny College senior came up big in the 2008 Championship chase, as Liz Straus (Kirtland, Ohio/Kirtland) topped all competitors in the high jump, clearing a career-best height of 5-1.25, with classmate Pfuefer clearing 4-11 to earn fifth place overall. Straus’ victory is the first by a Gator high jumper since Tiffany Bennett cleared 5-2.25 in 2001. The 14 points for the Gators was topped only by Ohio Wesleyan’s 17. After five events the Gators still held on to a double-digit lead, with Allegheny scoring 56 points and Ohio Wesleyan and Oberlin tied for second, each with 40.

For the second time in as many days, Pfeufer brought home an individual title, winning the long jump for a second consecutive year, this time with a leap of 17-0.75, while Emily Norton (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore) placed seventh overall with a leap of 15-4.75. The 12 points for the Gators pushed their total to 68 after the final field event, as the squad leads the competition by 19 over Oberlin (49) and 22 over Ohio Wesleyan (46).

The 4x200-meter relay team of Alexandra Mikovich (Albion, Pa./Northwestern), Norton, Rebecca Lendyak (Cowansville, Pa./Ford City) and Jessica Gratton (Bridgeville, Pa./Chartiers Valley) took third overall in a time of 1:50.47, getting out-leaned at the line by Wittenberg for third place. With the six points from the race, the Gator lead was cut to 18 by Ohio Wesleyan, as the lead was increased over Oberlin to 21.

First-year runner Katie Stancik (Russell, Ohio/Chagrin Falls) led for six of the eight laps of the women’s mile, and was overtaken with two laps to go; however, she was able to hold on for a second-place time of 5:29.47, while classmate Claire LeMasters (Shadyside, Ohio/St. John Central) took seventh overall in a time of 5:38.09. The ten points earned by the Gators was second best in the field behind Ohio Wesleyan’s 21 from a first, third and fourth finish, as the Gator lead was cut to seven at 84-77 through eight events.

Despite a career-best time of 1:04.50 in the 400-meter dash, Laura Heltman (Mars, Pa./Mars) placed ninth and just out of the scoring race. Oberlin and Ohio Wesleyan each scored 13 points, putting the Gators behind Ohio Wesleyan for the first time in the meet 90-to-84, with Oberlin and their 73 points well within striking distance of the top three.

The distance medley relay team of Stephanie Alberico (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson), Jamie Shinn (Edinboro, Pa./General MacLane), Angela Dyer (McKeesport, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) and LeMasters took top honors in the event, topping second-place Kenyon by just over a second. With the win, and an OWU fourth place finish, the Gators closed to within a point at 95-94, with Oberlin still in the hunt with 76 points.

The freshman duo of Lendyak and Mikovich added 10 points to the Gator cause by placing third and fifth in the 55-meter dash, respectively. Lendyak’s time of 7.63 was a new career best for the first-year runner, while Mikovich’s was just two hundredths from her personal best. Despite the 10 points, the Gators were out-scored by three in the event by the Battling Bishops 13-10, pushing OWU’s lead to four points at 108-104 with Oberlin keeping themselves in contention with 82 total points.

An Ogechi Nwokedi (Oil City, Pa./Oil City) victory in the 800-meter run, with a Stancik fifth place finish helped Allegheny out-score OWU by four points, knotting the two teams at 118 team points, each. Nwokedi’s time of 2:19.08 is the fastest run in the conference this season, and is less than three seconds from the NCAA Division III provisional qualifying mark, while Stancik ran a time of 2:25.95.

Lendyak and Mikovich came back an event after running the 55 to take third and seventh in the 200-meter dash. Lendyak’s time of 27.21 is a new personal best, while Mikovich’s 27.87 is second this season, only to the preliminary time she ran last night. The pair were out-done only by Ohio Wesleyan’s 1-2 finish in the event, taking a tie score to a 10-point OWU lead (136-126) with three scoring events remaining in the meet.

Third and fourth place finishes by Eva Weyers (Delanson, N.Y./Duanesburg) and Rachel Hutchinson (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) helped Allegheny out-score Ohio Wesleyan 11-5, and cut into the Battling Bishop lead. Weyers ran a time of 10:40.11, with Hutchinson crossing the finish line in a time of 10:42.73, both personal bests, helped cut the OWU lead to just four at 141-to-137, with the Yeowomen of Oberlin College sticking around with 112 points.

The team’s three placers in the 55-hurdles; Pfeufer, Straus and Gratton; took fifth, sixth and seventh, as the team’s points out-scored Ohio Wesleyan’s by four, knotting the two teams with 146 points, each. Pfeufer led the way for the trio in a career-best time of 9.33, with Straus (9.37) and Gratton (9.42) rounding out the scoring places for Allegheny, setting up a battle in the championship’s final event, the 4x400-meter relay.

In the relay, the team of Alberico, Lendyak, Heltman and Nwokedi took third, three seconds behind second-place Ohio Wesleyan, with Oberlin taking top honors in a time of 4:07.28. The two-point differential was all the Bishops needed, taking home the team title by a pair of points.

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