WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster track and field team won five events at the program's Fighting Scots Invitational, while both the men and women finished third of five teams on Saturday afternoon at the Scot Center.
Sophomores Claudia Partridge and Maya Vasta headlined Saturday's results for the Scots. Partridge cleared a co-collegiate-best 5 feet, 3.75 inches to win the high jump. Vasta beat out eight other competitors to win the 400 meters at 1:03.53, and her 27.80 in the 200-meter dash was second out of 17 entrants. Both sophomores teamed up with senior Korri Palmer and first-year Sierra Lapasky in the 4x200. The Scots were unopposed in the event, but did log a season-best time of 1:53.67.
Vasta totaled four top-two finishes on the day. She led off Wooster's runner-up 4x400 relay that crossed at 4:31.06. First-year Haley Bloom and seniors Audrey Cordova and Cobi Warstler rounded out that relay, which logged a season-best time as well.
Sophomore Kayla Bertholf's 10:52.83 in the 3,000 meters was the third-fastest time out of 23 entrants, while classmate Morgan Kromer cleared 8 feet, 8.25 inches to take third in the pole vault. Other top-five finishes on the women's side included junior Jena Copley in the 60-meter hurdles (11.11, fifth), Lapasky in the long jump (15 feet, 0.75 inches, fifth), and Palmer in the 60-meter dash (8.69, fifth).
On the men's side, Wooster had the top two finishers in the high jump. First-year Luke Henke edged out sophomore Richie Pajak for top-billing. Both Scots cleared 6 feet, 0.5 inch, but Henke cleared the bar on his second attempt at 5 feet, 10.5 inches to Pajak's third try.
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| Junior Mark Herron was third in the 60-meter dash at 7.32. Photo by Abbi Tarburton '22. |
Sophomore William McMichael's busy afternoon included a first-place time of 51.95 in the 400 meters. McMichael was the runner-up in the 25-competitor 200-meter dash at 23.54, and he ran on both of Wooster's relays. The Scots' 4x400 consisting of juniors Matt Olszewski and Drake Pence, first-year Joe Shilts, and McMichael took third at 3:37.16. Wooster's 4x200 was second of two entrants at 1:33.24. That relay consisted of Pence, McMichael, sophomore Kristian Coleman, and junior Mark Herron.
A significant chunk of Wooster's points came from the sprinters, with the Scots having 10 scorers between the 60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash, and 400 meters. Pence (7.27), Herron (7.32), and first-year MJ Boley (7.39) were second, third, and fifth in the 60-meter dash. In the 60-meter hurdles, Shilts (9.17), first-year Justin Jones (9.89), and first-year Brennen Testa (10.42) were third, fourth, and sixth. In addition to McMichael, Herron (24.17) took seventh in the 200-meter dash, while Olszewski (54.31) was fourth in the 400 meters.
Other top-three finishes included first-year Cowen Croft in the pole vault (10 feet, 11.75 inches, third), sophomore Conor Greene in the weight throw (45 feet, 3.5 inches, third), and senior Miki Rae in the 5,000 meters (16:25.33, third).
Denison University's men tallied 150 points. Allegheny College was second at 121 points. On the women's side, Oberlin College ran away from the field with 227 points. Allegheny was second at 100. Wooster's men had 116 points, while the women had 90.
Next, Wooster hosts Denison in a dual meet on Thursday, January 30. Field events start at 5 p.m. with track events set to start at 6:30 p.m.