Track and field find motivation before Conference

Angad Singh

Sports Editor

The Fighting Scots men’s and women’s track and field teams gained momentum in terms of practice and confidence before the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship. The Scots participated in the tri-meet on Feb. 21 held at Kenyon College. Between both they logged a dozen first-place finishes.

The men’s team bagged six first-place wins, with William McMichael ’22 further lowering his season-best time in the 400 meters to clock-out the event in 51.48 seconds, helping in finishing first out of 12 competitors. Feeling confident for his performance ahead McMichael stated, “I think my performance will help improve my results at the conference.” He further continued, “it was my fastest 400m time this year and there was little competition. With the intensity of the competition at the conference, I believe I have the ability to win the 400m again this year.”

Teammate Aedan Pettit ’20 came in first for the one mile run clocking a time of 4:25.01, beating out 13 other competitors in the events good enough for him to win the NCAC Player of the Week. When asked how his performance over the weekend will help impact his results in the Conference meet, Pettit stays humble and states, “This result gives us a lot of confidence heading into this weekend’s conference meet at Denison. I think it sets us up for positive results across the board.”

Pettit, along with McMichael and teammates Matt Olszewski ’21 and Joe Shilts ’22, helped in an- choring the win in the 4×400 meter relay, with a time of 3:34.33. But it was not only runners that logged the wins for the Scots. Connor Greene’s ’21 weight throw at 12.5 meters reaffirmed the team’s winning ways along with Richie Pajak ’22 ’s clearing the bar at 1.8 meters in the men’s high jump.

When it came to the wins, the women had some amazing performances with six first-place finishes as well, Marian Overfield ’22 clocked her stellar performance with a time of 11:23.13 in the 3000 meters, finishing first just ahead of Emma Busch ’21, who came in second. Coming off her win, Overfield said, “I had a season PR, like many of my teammates.” She continued, “I really think that this weekend at Denison, the Conference championships, will have great results as well and I’m hoping to run an overall PR on both Friday and Saturday.”

Teammate Morgan Kromer ’22 jumped her season-best mark of 3.2 meters clearing her for first in the women’s pole vault. When asked about her performance Kromer stated, “I think the skills and techniques we are learning in practice are showing up in our performances, specifically in the pole vaulting crew, which is where I spend the most time.” She continued, “I personally increased my vault by a foot from the week before, which is a lot in the pole- vaulting world. I jumped at, but did not clear my lifetime record, so I am excited to see where I can get the rest of the season. Across the team, we set a lot of season records, some personal records and even came close to a few school records.”

Dominating in the field events was Christine Weber ’21 who cleaned up the competition by taking first in the weight throw (11 meters) and shot put 11 me- ters). Choosing humility, she said, “I definitely think that I can be throwing farther, but I think that’s every track athlete’s perspective on their events.” She continued, “it should be a really good conference for the women all around though, and I’m super excited!”