The Observer, February 3, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 15
Erb stars again, leads women to victory at Spartan Relays
click to enlarge
The Spartan indoor track and field teams had impressive performances last week at Case's own Spartan Relays. The women took first place and had one runner make two provisional qualifying times for nationals. The men finished third and also had a runner make a nationals qualifying time.
Esther Erb had another impressive meet. She won both the one-mile and the 5000-meter races, provisionally qualifying for nationals, and was named UAA Athlete of the Week. (Provisional qualification means that the runner has reached a benchmark that, in order to fill the field at nationals additional runners will be picked from.) In the 5000, Erb won by nearly a minute and a half. This week, after competing in a relay in the team meet on Friday, she will run at a meet in Akron so that she has other runners around her to push her.
Erb said she is going to Akron "so that I don't have to run by myself and so that I can run a fresh 5000 and hopefully get a very solid qualifying time (the one I ran last weekend was still on the edge)."
Aaron Johnston-Peck made the provisional qualifying time for men in the 5000 meters. His closest competition was his teammate Stephen Hrinda, who was less than 20 seconds back. Johnston-Peck's closest non-Case competitor was more than a minute back.
Johnston-Peck and Erb were not the only standouts for the two teams though. Chris Molnar once again had a good meet for the men, taking third in the 800 and anchoring the men's 4x400 relay, just edging Carnegie Mellon for second place. The weight team also had a good meet for the men, with Paul Hannen, Alex Drollinger, and Brandon Jefferies all scoring in the weight throw and with Drollinger and Hannen also scoring in the shot put.
For the women, Erb was followed in the one mile by four of her teammates: Kristen Bowhers, Anna Taylor, Irene Nagle, and Sarah Gill, as they nearly swept all the points in that event. Those four finished in those same second through fifth positions in the 800, with Gill moving up to third and Taylor and Nagle dropping one spot.
Even with all the impressive individual performances, the teams are still getting better.
"We have a lot more to show; most of our runners aren't in their best events yet," Drollinger said. "We will improve quite a bit yet."
"Our team has a really strong base in the distance events, with Esther Erb and Kristen Bowhers leading the way, which will hopefully bring in a lot of points each meet," Taylor said. "With strong performances in the shorter distances and field events, we have a chance to place well in the upcoming meets. And if we all step it up when we go into the UAA Championships, I think we can surprise some teams."
This week the team will be at home again in Veale, this time on Friday, and they have high expectations, but runners will still be finding their groove.
"I always expect to win, you have to succeed," Hannen said.
"This week is still a warm-up meet," Adam Goodrich said. "We are always looking to do well as a team at every meet, but the most important meets of the season are yet to come. Essentially, everyone will be taking off time and improving personal records to get ready for the upcoming conference meet."
Some runners are already looking ahead to how well the teams can perform at the conference meet.
"As a team we're showing progress and should be able to round into good form for conference, definitely improving upon last year's finish," Johnston-Peck said.
Nagle was confident about the women's chances.
"We are definitely going to place high at conference this year," she said.
The next step to that strong conference showing is this week at the Case Invitational.
