Mark Stair

Ashley Huddson

Freshman high jumper Mark Stair won an individual championship in his debut at the North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, while five other College of Wooster student-athletes joined him as all-conference honorees (top-three finishes), highlighting the Fighting Scot men's and women's eighth-place finishes at this year's two-day event hosted by Denison University at Granville, Ohio.

Stair burst onto the scene back in January, as he broke Wooster's 36-year-old school record in the high jump in his first collegiate meet with a jump of 6 feet, 7.5 inches. He upped his own mark on Saturday, as he cleared the bar at 6 feet, 8 inches, which was four inches better than the next closest challenger.

The standout high jumper wasn't the only one on the men's side to break a school record, as Matt Margida reset his own record in the weight throw at 46 feet, 2.5 inches, which was over three feet further than his previous best. It was good for a fifth-place finish in that event, but Margida had a stronger finish in the shot put, where he took second-place (all-conference) with 48 feet, 7.5 inches.

The men's next best result came during the 4x200 meter relay, as classmates Ben Kingstone, John Lanz, Keir Pace, and David Brew crossed the finish line fifth in 1:35.51.

Others contributing towards Wooster's team score of 31 points were Zach Towner with seventh-place in the triple jump (42 feet, 1.50 inches), Roy Hadfield with eighth-place in the 800 meter run (1:59.48), and Shawn Bowman with eighth-place in the long jump (20 feet, 0.50 inches).

Like the men, the women picked up all-conference honors in two events as well and Ashley Huddson was a part of both on her way to earning a pair of certificates.

One came as a member of a school-record breaking effort in the 4x400 meter relay, where Huddson joined forces with Lauren Buyan, Hilary Coady, and Edith Anderson to place second overall in 4:04.87. Huddson also crossed the finish line third in 800 meter run (2:23.11) to round out an impressive weekend for the junior.

Anderson nearly was named all-NCAC in a second event as well, but she finished about a tenth of second off of third-place in the 400 meter dash and settled for fourth in 59.28.

Katie Cameron earned Wooster fourth-place points in another event, as the newcomer took fourth in the long jump (15 feet, 11.5 inches), while Coady also faired well in a jumping event as she picked up fifth-place points in the high jump (5 feet, 0.25 inches).

Wooster had several others chip in points towards its final score of 51.5, including Ann Berkow, Huddson, Coady, and Buyan with fifth-place in the distance event (12:57.16), Kristina Reck (9 feet, 8 inches) and Camille Schwartz (9 feet, 2.25 inches) with sixth and eighth place, respectively, in the pole vault, and Amy French with sixth in the 60 meter hurdles in 9.48.

Finally, first-year Kennedy Payne added her name to the record book, as she placed seventh during Friday's prelims of the 60 meters in 8.16. She came in right around that time (8.24) during Saturday's finals, which was also good for seventh.