The Observer, February 22, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 18
Distance runners lead pack at All-Ohios
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The women took eighth of 15 and the men took 13th of 16 at the All-Ohio Championships last Saturday.
At Baldwin-Wallace on Friday the women's squad had Colleen Heffernan place third in the 3000-meter run and numerous others placing in the top 10 in other events, including Allison Early. "The Friday meet at [Baldwin-Wallace] was the first time this season I was able to participate in shot put," she said. Early placed seventh overall in the shot put, an impressive finish for the first attempt at an event. Case's Elizabeth Ehrke placed 17th in the women's shot put, but was not satisfied with her finish.
"I was happy with my performance at All-Ohio, but not very happy with my performance at [Baldwin-Wallace]," she said. Ehrke placed fourth in the weight throw at All-Ohio. "I improved my distance and form in the weight throw on Saturday." Like Ehrke, many of the Spartan women also did drastically better at the All-Ohio meet.
Esther Erb once again ran to a first- place finish in the mile with a time of 5:06.33. Her teammate Justine Jeroski took second place with a time of 5:16.90. Other impressive finishes for the women included Andrea Fischione placing second in the 5000-meter run with a time of 18:23.99, and placing eigth Kristen Bowhers, in the 800-meter run. The men also had an eventful weekend with numerous placements at both Baldwin Wallace and the All-Ohio meet. At Baldwin-Wallace, Mike Vaughn and Mark Grogan took third and fourth place in the mile, Josh Ward took third in the 3000-meter run, and Obinna Nwanna and Matt Kamalsky had placements in the pole vault, long jump, and the 55-meter hurdles in training for the decathlon. "This weekend was very big for our decathlon guys," said head coach Stephen Rubin. "They did the high hurdles and pole vault for the very first time. These are key events in the decathlon that will determine to a large degree their overall success. They both had very good hurdle races and showed some great development in the vault."
Nwanna set a personal record and Kamalsky had a season-best in the long jump last weekend. The pair have just over four weeks until they do their first decathlon. At the All-Ohio meet, some of the most impressive finishes included junior Dominic Smith's second-place finish in the one mile run with a time of 4:23.34, and junior Mike Petro's fourth in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:32.79.
Seniors Brandon Jeffries and Pat Benasutti both finished fourth in the weight throw. "We are working toward our goal of being the best in the UAA," said Jeffries. "These initial meets have shown that we do in fact have the competitive drive to be one of the top teams overall."
After the All-Ohios, the Spartans are gearing up for their toughest competition of the season, where they will face staunch competition in WashU, Chicago, and Emory.
"The thing that I am looking forward to, and I believe that the rest of the team is also looking forward to, is the UAA Championships that we will host in March," said Jeffries. "In many years past, we have been the laughingstock of the UAA. Since my freshman year, when we scored only a handful of points, through last year's meet at Brandeis, we are still not respected by the other member schools. This year, we will be."
