Quakers take seventh place in track championships
By Aleta Cox
Earlham College’s track teams competed successfully in the NCAA Indoor Track Championships this past weekend, breaking school records and qualifying junior Chad Wertman for NCAA Division III Nationals.
During Friday’s events, held at Denison University, junior Chad Wertman tossed the shot put 53’91/4’’ for a school record throw, sealing his win in the shot put championship for the second straight season.
Other individuals won their respective events and earned many points for both the men’s and women’s teams.
The men’s team finished the meet in seventh place out of nine teams and tallied 32 points. The women’s team finished in last out of the eight teams, earning 27 points.
The shot put is a track and field event that involves putting, or throwing in a pushing motion, a heavy metal ball called the shot, as far as possible. The current record for indoor shot put belongs to Randy Barnes of the United States, with a throw of 74’41/4.”
Wertman has broken his own shot put record numerous times this season. His previous mark at 52 feet was enough to provisionally qualify him for the Nationals meet, but only the top 16 shot putters in the country advance, so throwing an extra foot and a half greatly improved his chances of going.
“Going into the meet after winning last year always puts pressure on a person. I mean when you win conference it is like getting a target on your back, every one wants to beat you,” said Wertman. “As far as making me want to perform well, I went into conference looking to further my personal record. To prepare for this weekend’s event, I’m not doing anything special. I’m just looking at it as another meet and practicing the same as I normally would.”
Saturday’s events were also noteworthy. The 1,600 meter relay squad composed of senior Bo Braun, juniors Lenden Bowsman and Ben Randall, and sophomore Jonathan Dyson broke an Earlham school record with a time of 3:31.06 to finish fourth in the race.
Junior Ramona Hemmings and sophomore Elizabeth Ross won big for the Earlham women’s track team, as they both placed first in their respective events.
Hemmings recorded a distance of 34’21/4” to claim victory in the triple jump.
This was an improvement on her performance from last year when she finished third at the indoor championship.
“Taking advice from friends and coaches is one thing that changed for me this year. I was openminded during practice sessions and I also took the coaching staff more seriously. My teammates Chad Wertman and Chris Shaw gave me my final motivation minutes before I got the winning jump and I thank them for that. They were my cheering squad,” said Hemmings.
Ross, who entered the day as the number three seed in the conference, recorded a height of 5’31/4” to win the high jump event for the second year in a row.
“This year the competition was better than last year, so I had to try harder. The day of the competition I was really ‘on,’ and felt confident that I could make the jump,” Ross said of her performance.
Wertman will represent Earlham tomorrow at the national championship held at DePauw University. The event starts at 2 p.m., and Wertman will try to improve on his previous best mark in order to achieve All-American honors, which requires a top-eight finish for track and field events.
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