Wertman, Shaw honored in first 2010 track meet
By Bryant Foreman
Field Athletes lead men’s team
After competing in their first indoor North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) meet last Saturday, Jan. 30, at Denison University, the men’s team tied for sixth place with Alleghany College out of the nine teams that participated in the conference relays.
Earlier in the week it was announced that senior Chris Shaw and junior Chad Wertman had received conference recognition by the NCAC as they each earned Athlete of the Week for their performance at the relays. Specifically, their combined effort in the shot put earned them the victory for the event and was determined good enough by conference and meet officials for recognition. Both Shaw and Wertman earned the title last season.
In this team competition the scores of two teammates are combined to determine the points each team receives for a specific event. Usually, the top eight finishers receive anywhere from 10 to one points based on place. The men’s team featured the one-two punch of Shaw and Wertman during the events on Saturday. Wertman led all of the throwers in the shot put with a toss of 48’6 3/4”, good enough for the win. Shaw, who received All-American recognition for the discus last year, helped out with a throw of 46’1 1/4” and placed fourth.
Shaw said, “Personally, we didn’t do too bad, but compared to last year we didn’t throw as well as we wanted to. Every meet we go to has good competition, so we can just continue to work on our technique every week to stay at the top and help out the team as a whole.”
Freshman Jared Patton helped contribute with his second place finish for the men’s high jump, clearing 510’ 3/4”. Other highlights included the men’s 800-meter relay and 1600-meter relay both finishing at sixth place in the event.
Hemmings and key individuals display successful performances
The women’s team had many key single-effort performances on Saturday, but could not accumulate the needed points to finish higher than eighth place by the time the meet was concluded. Ohio Wesleyan University sealed the win for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Junior Ramona Hemmings led the women Quaker squad with her personal performance in the triple jump event as she placed first in the event with a combined distance of 33’6”. Later on in the long jump, Hemmings secured additional points with a fifth place finish.
Another crucial performance was by junior Meredith Naughton, who finished second overall in the women’s pole vault event for the Quakers with an attempt of 8’11 3/4”. This added five points to Earlham College’s final score for the day and was one of the key performances of the relays.
Sophomore Elizabeth Ross contributed with her high jump of 5’1”, which added three points to the final tally. The Quakers also finished seventh in the Sprint Medley Relay.
For both teams, Head Track Coach Nick Johnson was impressed by how the Quakers performed despite the small numbers of participants for the indoor season.
“I felt that we did a pretty good job overall as a team, and I was pleased with how we performed at our first meet,” Johnson said. “I look forward to see continued improvement of the athletes and I’m excited to see the new faces that are involved this year.”
Junior Lenden Bowsman, a participant in the 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams and 200-meter dash, also seemed to agree.
“We have a good, healthy experienced group this year with the addition of a lot of good young freshman,” Bowsman said. “Once we get into better shape I think we will be able to produce better results.”
The Quakers next meet is the Anderson University Invitational in Anderson, Ind. at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
