Drake Pence

Korri Palmer

The College of Wooster track and field program won 20 of the 32 events contested in Wednesday afternoon's dual meet at North Coast Athletic Conference rival Denison University. The Fighting Scots' women cruised to a 90-65 win, while the men dropped a tightly-contested meet, 75-71.

First-year Maya Vasta was the big winner on the day with a quintet of blue-ribbon efforts. The Fighting Scots' rookie lead a field of six to the finish in the 200 meters (27.77), while her time of 1:01.76 was over two seconds better than the runner-up pace in the 400 meters. In relays, Vasta capped the meet by leading off the Scots' winning 4x400 (4:26.59), which was rounded out by junior Korri Palmer and sophomores Zoe Covey and Jena Copley, while Palmer, Vasta, and first-years Claudia Partridge and Morgan Kromer won the 4x200 at 52.04. Vasta's success carried over to the field events, where she measured out at 14 feet, 10.5 inches to win the long jump over four other competitors.

Palmer and Partridge were the other multi-winners on the women's side. Palmer's 13.38 led a field of five in the 100-meter dash, while Partridge cleared 5 feet, 1 inch on her first try to win the high jump.

Sophomore Georgia Hopps-Weber cleared 10 feet, 6 inches on her first go at the height en route to winning the pole vault. Other first-place finishes were turned in by first-year Kayla Bertholf in the 800 meters (2:34.41), first-year Isabelle Hoover in the 1,500 meters (5:07.52), and first-year Saralee Renick in the triple jump (31 feet, 9.25 inches).

Sophomore Drake Pence helped lead the way for the men's team with a trio of first-place showings. The sprint specialist doubled-up individually in the 100- (11.71) and 200-meter dashes (23.81), and led off the winning 4x100 relay (44.45), that was rounded out by first-year William McMichael and senior anchors Myles Parker and Justin Fox.

By meet's end, Parker himself was a triple-winner, thanks to an unopposed time of 1:05.88 in the 400-meter hurdles, and as part of the Scots' 4x400 relay, which capped the meet with a time – 3:29.49 – that was nearly three seconds faster than Denison's 3:32.48. Sophomore Matt Olszewski, senior Brian Lief, and McMichael helped steer that relay to victory.

Earlier in the meet, Lief's 2:00.64 in the 800 meters led a field of 16 competitors, while junior Spencer Wilson doubled-up in field events with winning marks of 131 feet, 10 inches in the discus and 140 feet, 2 inches in the javelin.

While he was unopposed in the triple jump, first-year Richard Pajak did up his career-best mark to 41 feet, 4.25 inches.

Next, Wooster's in action at the Div. III All-Ohio Championships, held at Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday.