Women's Indoor Track
2007 Women's Indoor Track & Field Preview
Date: January 15, 2007
Location: GRANVILLE
With the temperatures dropping and snow on the way, it's time to take the track and field games indoor. After finishing the 2005 indoor season with a third place finish in the North Coast Athletic Conference, the women's team are faced with somewhat of a rebuilding year after losing a number of top performers to graduation in 2006.
Head coach Pan Fanaritis is returning for his 14th year at Denison and points to his strong returning core of senior distance runners as the strength of this year's team.
Leading the pack will be senior Elaine Binkley (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) who is the defending NCAC champ in the 3000 meter run. Supporting Binkley will be a pair of seniors in Ashley Albrecht (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) and Christine Collins (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Chagrin Falls). Collins is already a three-time indoor all-conference runner and will be looking to cap off her career with a fourth. Teaming up with her fellow seniors will be juniors Brittany Cerankosky (Kirtland, Ohio/Kirtland), Courtney Alexander (Westfield, Ind./Westfield), Stephanie Dallas (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) and sophomore Kat Lenhart (Rocky River, Ohio/ Magnificat).
Another emerging strength on this year's team lays in the sprint events. Leading the sprinters will be senior Jessica West (Youngstown, Ohio/ Culver Academy), who is all-conference in the 55 meter dash. Joining West will be seniors Kristen Matthews (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Erin Davidson (Philadelphia, Pa./ Bensalem). Matthews missed her 2006 season while studying abroad abroad, but should be able to adjust quickly after coming off another successful soccer season. Fanaritis feels that freshmen Julia Miller (Darien, Conn./ Darien) will help round out this unit and should add the necessary depth to stay competitive.
The middle distance group could turn out to be the 'X' factor, as they are mainly first-year students and sophomores. Expect to see sophomore Kathryn McDonnell (Beverly Hill, Mich./Marian), freshmen Sarah Anderson (Poland, Ohio/Poland), freshmen Jennifer Douglas (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central), and freshmen Kelly McCallin (Canton, Ohio/St. Thomas Aquinas) making their mark on the middle-distance competitions.
Rounding out the women's indoor team will be those competing in the field events, where we can expect to see first-year student Mary Hammeren (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) competing in the pole-vault. The throwing events will showcase a trio of first-year students in Emily Handleman (Rochester, N.Y./ Penfield), Antoinette Belson (Gates Mills, Ohio/Laurel), and Emily Taylor (Columbus, Ohio/Thomas Worthington).
While this year's women's team may have been hit hard by graduation, they will still rely on the remaining senior leadership, which was part of the 2004 NCAC conference championship campaign. "If the freshmen rise up, and our seniors do what they are expected to do, we can find ourselves in contention again," said Fanaritis. "We were fortunate enough to enjoy a couple of years with veteran runners that were championship contenders, right now we are in a rebuilding stage, but I am confident that we will be able to handle this adversity."
Denison's season begins on Saturday, Jan. 20 with the annual Lid-Lifter event at the Mitchell Center on the campus of Denison University.