Women's Indoor Track
Women's Indoor Track & Field: Ohio Wesleyan Holds off Allegheny to win NCAC Indoor Championship
Ohio Wesleyan bested Allegheny College by two-points in the final standings to clinch their second-straight NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championship.
Date: March 1, 2008
Location: GRANVILLE
Ohio Wesleyan University's second-place finish in the final event of the day, the 4x400 meter relay, resulted in a two-point victory over Allegheny College which gives the Bishops their second-straight North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship and their seventh title in school history.
The Bishops 4x400 relay team of Lainey Kekic, Rachael Newman, Ashley Shaffer and Kara Reiter finished behind first-place Oberlin College who crossed the finish in 4:07.28. The Bishops' primary concern was the Gators, who entered the finale deadlocked with Ohio Wesleyan in points. After three clean hand-off's OWU bested the Gators by just over three seconds to lock up the team title.
OWU would finish with 154 points followed by Allegheny with 152 points. Oberlin placed third with 123 points and fourth place went to Wittenberg with 53.5 points. The College of Wooster followed in fifth with 42 points. Sixth through ninth place went to Denison (36.5), Kenyon (27), Earlham (23) and Hiram (13).
Ohio Wesleyan's Casey Ridgeway was named the women's Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year after winning the 55 meter dash, the 200 meter dash and running on the first-place 4x200 meter relay. Ridgeway finished the 55 meters in 7.36 seconds while three-time defending champ, Nicole Bailey of Wittenberg was the runner-up in 7.51 seconds. The 200 saw Ridgeway top her teammate, Lainey Kekic, with a time of 26.28.
Her final victory came as a part of the 4x200 relay team along with Kekic, Ashlie Britton and Shaffer. The group combined for a three second win over Wittenberg and Allegheny.
Allegheny's Emily Pfeufer was tabbed the women's Field Athlete of the Year following her victory in Saturday's long jump. Pfeufer jumped 17'0.75" to outdistance Wittenberg's Bailey who covered 16'6.50" in the event. The win in the long jump was Pfeufer's second of the meet. She took home the title on Friday night in the triple jump.
The Distance Runner of the Year award went to Oberlin College's Joanna Johnson who followed up Friday's win in the women's 5K with a second-place performance in the 3,000 meters and a time of 10:35.14. Her teammate, Marie Barnett, was the winner of the 3K in 10:34.56.
Oberlin would go on to notch two other championships on Saturday. Senior Anna Chernin took first place in the 400 meter dash with a time of 59.87 seconds. Earlham's Sara Bohall followed in second at 1:00.10. Their final title would come in the aforementioned 4x400 relay thanks to the performances of Christa Wagner, Amanda Miller, Madeline Schultz and Chernin.
Ohio Wesleyan senior Claire Everhart gave the Bishops a boost with her win in the mile. She turned in a time of 5:25.75. The 55-meter hurdles saw Hiram College's Lynne Hutchinson bring home the Terrier's first championship after she logged a time of 8.85 seconds.
Allegheny's Ogechi Nwokedi was the winner in the women's 800 meters thanks to her time of 2:19.08. The Gators also claimed the distance medley relay crown in 13:18.22. Stephanie Alberico, Jamie Shinn, Angela Dyer and Claire LeMasters represented the Gators in the DMR. Another championship for Allegheny would be claimed by senior Liz Straus. She cleared 5'1.25" and topped second-place, Shaffer of Ohio Wesleyan by one inch. OWU's Kekic placed third.
In the post championship awards ceremony Ohio Wesleyan's Kris Boey was named the Women's Coach of the Year.
Complete Results [htm]