Abena Boamah-Acheampong

Kevin DeGroot

In its third home meet in as many weekends, The College of Wooster women's track & field team thrilled the crowd at the Scot Center, winning the championship of the five-team Fighting Scot Invitational, while the men showed improvement with a fourth-place finish.

Wooster's 198-point performance in the women's portion of the meet was plenty enough to outscore Baldwin-Wallace College (161.5), archrival Wittenberg University (87), Denison University (76.5), and Kenyon College (68).

The individual highlights from the Scots consisted of Abena Boamah-Acheampong breaking her own school record in the indoor high jump and fellow field specialist Ellen Sandin sweeping the long jump and triple jump events. A week after equaling her previous best in the high jump (5 feet, 4.75 inches), Boamah-Acheampong went an additional quarter inch for a winning mark of 5 feet, 5 inches.

Sandin hit 17 feet, 3.25 inches in the long jump, a full two feet farther than her nearest competitor, and the freshman standout's mark of 33 feet, 1 inch in the triple jump was enough to take top honors in that as well. Boamah-Acheampong was third in the triple (32 feet, 0.25 inches).

The Wooster women also had a series of runner-up performances, with Kendra Shehy accounting for two herself. She was the only competitor besides Boamah-Acheampong to clear 5 feet in the long jump (5 feet, 0.25 inches) and then led a strong Scot contingent in the 400 meters (1:05.49), followed by teammates Taylor Morgan in third (1:06.09) and Jean Quenneville in fourth (1:07.24).

In distance action, Kelsie Herring and Meredith Shaul produced second-place runs in the mile (5:25.81) and 3000 meters (10:35.90), respectively. Herring also ran the anchor leg of the Scots' best relay of the day, teaming with Morgan, Chelsea Denlinger, and Lauren Buyan for runner-up in the 4x400 (4:19.69), less than a second behind the winning group.

Vernonique Jones finished second in both the shot put (32 feet, 2.75 inches) and the weight throw (33 feet, 7.25 inches), with teammates Katharina Kroll taking third in the shot (31 feet, 5.25 inches) and Devin Johns third in the weight (32 feet, 0.25 inches).

Also of note, Heidi Strike tied for second in the long jump (15 feet, 3.25 inches) and Amy French crossed third in the 60-meter hurdles (9.90).

Wooster's men's team scored 89 points, less than five points behind third-place Kenyon (93.5), while Baldwin-Wallace (183) placed first overall.

The Scots' Kevin DeGroot headlined a strong day for the distance group by winning the 3000 meters (9:15.77). Teammates Micah Caunter and Luke Hutchings-Goetz both took third-place in their events, the 800 meters (2:02.91) for the former and the mile (4:27.55) for the latter.

In field action, Robert Flagg earned second-place in the long jump (19 feet, 7 inches) as did Jay Marshall in the pole vault (11 feet, 11.75 inches).