GAMBIER, Ohio - For the first time in six years, The College of Wooster men's track and field team won an outdoor meet with five or more teams as the Fighting Scots won the Duane Gomez Invitational, hosted by Kenyon College on the Wilder Track.
The last time the men won an outdoor meet with at least five teams was the Kenyon Invitational in 2017. Wooster won the six-team meet with a total of 169 points, besting the host Owls by 18 points. Meanwhile, the women took third with 111 points, holding off Wittenberg University in fourth-place by just two points.
The men collected victories in six different events, starting with junior Dylan Garretson and sophomore Echo Kidd out in the field. Garretson cleared a height of 15 feet, 7 inches to win the pole vault while Kidd went 44 feet, 0.75 inches to win the triple jump. Junior Davis Patterson was not far behind his teammate with a career-high tying mark of 15 feet, 3 inches to finish second in the pole vault, which moves him into a tie for fourth-place in program history.
Kidd also turned in a runner-up finish in the high jump, clearing a height of 6 feet even, while sophomore Vell Robinson took third in the triple jump with a mark of 40 feet, 0.75 inches.
On the track, sophomore Drew Robertson led a trio of Scots competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the first time in their careers as he turned in a winning time of 9:46.61, moving into sixth on the top-10 list. Fellow sophomores Will Callender and Eric Johnson made it a clean podium sweep for the Scots with times of 10:07.65 and 10:16.29 to place second and third, respectively.
One other podium sweep for the Scots came on the women's side in the 100-meter hurdles. Sophomore Daysia Hargrave paved the way for victory with a time of 15.75 seconds in her first 100 hurdles action of the season. Meanwhile, sophomore Clare Mackin and junior Mary Sirois placed second and third in 16.15 seconds and 16.42 seconds, respectively.
Two seniors also claimed event victories as Joe Shilts won the 400-meter hurdles and Will McMichael captured the 800-meter run. Shilts beat out the competition in 57.64 seconds and McMichael posted a time of 1:57.78 to win his respective event.
First-year Lorenzo Freeman and Shilts claimed two of the top-three finishes in the 110-meter hurdles. Freeman was only 0.04 seconds behind the winner as he crossed the finish line in a career-best 15.34 seconds and tied for eighth-place in school history in event. Shilts took third in a time of 17.07 seconds.
Wooster captured two relay wins, one in each event. First, the 4x100 relay team of sophomore Maia Doescher, first-year Izzy Cozzie, junior Drew Patterson, and Mackin broke the tape in 50.85. The quad of Shilts, senior Nick Scherson, Patterson, and McMichael closed out the meet with a win in the 4x400 relay in 3:28.61. The Scots' other 4x400 team of sophomore Cam Ray, first-year Zane DeMercurio, junior Connor Krucek, and first-year Jake George placed third in a time of 3:47.28.
The women had multiple other top-three finishes, led by senior Morgan Kromer with a mark of 10 feet, 8 inches in the pole vault, which was third. First-year Evie Sanford was the runner-up in the discus throw as she tossed 125 feet even. Doescher also placed third in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 9.75 inches.
A number of career-best marks led to runner-up finishes on the track, starting with Doescher with a time of 13.03 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Cozzie was the runner-up herself in the 400-meter dash in a career-best 1:01.92 while sophomore Emily Munson placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a career-best 1:12.18. Sophomore Jessie Breth also notched a runner-up finish in the 5,000-meter run in 20:21.36.
Wooster returns to action on Friday, April 28, at the Denison University Big Red Invitational.
photo by Kira Boyce '23