WOOSTER, Ohio – Two College of Wooster indoor track and field records were improved upon, and the Fighting Scots won eight events at Saturday's Fighting Scots Invitational inside the Scot Center. Wooster's men finished as the runner-up with 115.5 points, while the women's 107 points were good for third-place in the six-team field.
Junior Dylan Garretson vaulted his way into the top-10 nationally in the pole vault, upping his school record to 15 feet, 9 inches in the process. The junior won the event and tried for 16 feet, 5.25 inches upon securing a betterment of his record. The event marked a one-two finish for Wooster, with junior Davis Patterson backing Garretson up with a mark of 13 feet, 5.25 inches.
Wooster dominated the relays, winning two of the three contested in Saturday's men's events. Sophomore Drew Robertson, senior Will McMichael, sophomore Ben Nichols, and sophomore Will Callender broke the tape in the distance medley relay at 10:45.34. Wooster's quartet of senior Joe Shilts, senior Nick Scherson, Patterson, and McMichael capped the afternoon with a strong time of 3:32.76 in the 4x400 relay, with that marking just over a three-second margin of victory over North Coast Athletic Conference rival Denison University, which the Scots go head-to-head against in an old-fashion dual meet on Thursday evening.
Senior Luke Henke cleared a collegiate-best 6 feet, 4.25 inches in the high jump to round out the winners on the men's side. First-year sensation Lorenzo Freeman followed his debut school record in the 60-meter hurdles up with a time of 8.92, which ranked second among Saturday's entrants. Shilts went 53.75 to place third in the 400 meters, while sophomore Vell Robinson's 40 feet even in the triple jump rounded out Wooster's top-three placers.
First-year Izzy Cozzie helped lead Wooster's women's team as a double-winner. The first-year ran the second leg of Wooster's winning 4x200 relay (1:53.10), which also consisted of junior Drew Patterson, junior Mary Sirois, and sophomore Emily Munson. Leg two is where Cozzie resided in the meet-capping 4x400 relay, which was won by the Scots with a time of 4:19.82. Senior Haley Bloom led off the 4x400, while junior Athena Tharenos and sophomore Igna Mendez followed Cozzie on the winning quartet.
Two-time national qualifier Claudia Partridge's 5 feet, 3.75 inches was the winning mark in the high jump, where Wooster had two of the top-three finishers, thanks to Patterson's third-place effort of 5 feet, 2.5 inches. Sophomore Clare Mackin was Wooster's final winner of the day, taking the 60-meter hurdles in 9.91. Sirois gave the Scots two of the top-three hurdlers on the day with a time of 10.18.
Junior Ainsley Wiesner upped the school record in the weight throw for the second straight meet, this time reaching 49 feet, 0.25 inches, which was the runner-up mark on Saturday. Senior Morgan Kromer cleared 9 feet, 10 inches for a runner-up showing in the pole vault, Tharenos placed third in the 400 meters at 1:05.01, and the quartet of Tharenos, Bloom, Mendez, and sophomore Isabelle Dwyer teamed up for a 13:30.91 in the distance medley relay, which was third.
The home dual-meet showdown with Denison starts at 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 26.
photo by Kira Boyce '23