The Observer, April 28, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 26
Track teams stuck in the middle at UAA championships
click to enlarge
In the biggest meet of the outdoor season, the UAA Championships, the men's and women's track teams finished in the middle of the pack. Middle of the pack is not bad, though, for a couple of teams that have struggled at UAA's in years past. The teams were competitive and, in the first major meet on their new home track, the Spartans performed admirably.
After a fourth place finish last year and sitting in third going into the second day of the meet, the men were hoping to improve on last year's placing. They scored almost the same amount of points this year and finished fourth.
Leading the way for the men was Alex Drollinger, who won the hammer throw and finished fourth in the shot put and the discus. Teammate Brandon Jeffries finished just in front of him in third in the shot put. Stephen Hrinda took home the team's only other first place finish in the 10,000.
In the high jump, Funso Lafe, Derrick Moore, and Zachary Polk managed to take second through fourth. Chris Molnar ran his best time of the season, taking second in the 800.
Despite individual successes, some of the men sounded a little disappointed with the team's final outcome.
"Saturday seemed to go okay, but I thought we had more in the tank," Alex Drollinger said.
Paul Hannen was a little more upbeat.
"I am very happy with how the team did, and we know that we can do more next year," Hannen said.
Drollinger was pleased by "the way the team came together to support each other." He also was happy with his personal performance. "I had a lot of fun winning the hammer on my last throw too," Drollinger said.
The new track played a role in how the runners felt about the meet, but the competition and the performances by the athletes were the highlights of the day.
"Being in front of a home crowd was a great experience, and the fact that everyone ran well was a plus, too," Mac Taylor said.
The women had differing takes on the meet, but were generally pleased with their fifth place finish, an improvement over last year.
"I think overall the team was satisfied with our finish," Sarah Gill said. "Fifth place was an improvement on last year's finish, and we beat NYU."
Esther Erb was personally quite happy with the performance of her teammates.
"I was really pleased with our performance this past weekend," Erb said. "I think overall, we all really stepped up to the competition, and there were a lot of huge PRs (personal records). We really do have a great track, and it was good to see some awesome performances on it."
The women were led by Erb and Elizabeth Erhke. Erhke earned the women's only first place finish by winning the discus by a significant margin. Erb took second in the 1500 and fourth in the 10,000. Emily Bruckner also placed in two events, taking fourth in the 100 and the 200. Lauren von Eckartsberg and Lillian Pinault finished side by side, taking fourth and fifth respectively in the steeplechase.
Some seniors expressed sadness at having run in their last conference championships.
"As a senior, I was extremely disappointed to miss proceeding to finals by less than a second," Rachel Pope said. "Knowing that you just don't have any chances left is really difficult to face. If I had been in the other heat where there were more athletes closer to my time, I might have pushed myself a bit harder."
The teams do have one more meet this week during which the throwers and a smaller group of runners will be competing at the Baldwin Wallace Invitational.
The teams will be looking to get better in the off-season. In order to do that, different athletes have different ideas.
"We need to spend more time competing with individuals of UAA caliber," Pope said. "Unfortunately, we are just not used to having that type of competition on a regular basis. We will also need some throwers to fill in the spots that are leaving this year. We are starting to attract more jumpers and vaulters, and I can see that part of the team starting to fill in a lot. We have individuals to compete in almost every event, but I hope for new runners to cushion each one so that there's not just one person in each."
Karyn Wheeler agreed with that problem. "We need more depth in all events," Wheeler said. "We just don't have enough runners to perform strongly in all the events. Wash U has such a huge team; they can be competitive in everything they run."
The men feel the same way.
"We need more people to come out," Alex Drollinger said. "The guys we have did great, but we don't have everyone that we should coming out."
