Pioneer women take 8th, men 11th at All-Ohio Indoor Championships
MC has six more school-record performances at competition

Feb. 11, 2006
ADA, Ohio – "This weekend (Feb. 10-11) has been best overall performance I have seen from this program since I started here. What a clear definition of the improvement we have made. The anticipation of the rest of the season is suddenly in the foreground for these athletes. What an exciting weekend of competition for the Pioneers!"

That was how Head Track & Field Coach Derek Stanley summed the weekend for Marietta College. Stanley was referring to both Friday's performance at the Kenyon Invitational and this afternoon's work at the Division III All-Ohio Indoor Championships, which was host by Ohio Northern.

Saturday was a huge day for Marietta track & field as it got an opportunity to gauge itself against the rest of the state's DIII competition. The Pioneers fared quite well; the women (26 points) finished eighth of out 17 teams and the men (18 points) tied for 11th in the 18-school competition.

A year ago, Marietta only had six athletes qualify, while this year there were 15. In 2005, the men scored only 10 points, while the women did not score any points at the meet.

Six school records were either tied or broken at the meet, which will be the site of the upcoming Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Championships (Mar. 3-4).

Sophomore Joe Webb (Monessen, Pa./Ringgold) topped his previous career-best and school record with a third place finish in the 55m dash prelims, crossing the line in 6.61 seconds. The previous record was 6.70 seconds. Webb finished seventh in the finals with a time of 6.69 seconds.

Webb also ran the second leg of Marietta's 4x200m relay team which set a new school record en route to a fifth place finish. Freshman Seth Gordon (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy), senior Jeff Sherman (Akron/North) and junior Jason Curry (Akron/Springfield) combined with Webb to run the race in 1:33.01, beating the old record, 1:33.89, that they set last week.

Freshman Jessi Larrison (Batavia) bested her previous school-record performance (1:04.09) in the 400m dash, taking 13th place Saturday with a time of 1:03.81.

Junior Fizzy Ramsey (Danville, Ky./Doyle) continued to match her school record in the pole vault, clearing 10-00.00 (3.05m), and finished fifth in the event.

Junior Rachel Forman (Heath) shattered her own, as well as the school's, record in the weight throw and placed second. Forman's throw went 43-04.50 (13.22m), while the old record was 40-05.20 (12.33m).

Freshman Tiffany Kovacevich (Strongsville) beat her school record in the shot put, throwing 37-08.00 (11.48m), and captured second place. The previous school best, also a Kovacevich throw, was 35-09.25 (10.90m). She also took sixth in the weight throw with a best mark of 40-05.00 (12.32), also a personal record.

Marietta had some other top performances of the season at the meet. Sophomore Breanne Kosar (Wheeling, W.Va./Wheeling Park) cleared 5-01.25 (1.56m) in the high jump and placed sixth. She also took 11th in the triple jump (30-08.50/9.36m).

In addition, sophomore Dan DeZordo (Louisville/Marlington) took eighth in the shot put, throwing 45-08.50 (13.93m) and freshman Seth Townsend (Belleville, W.Va./Parkersburg South) had a third place finish in the high jump, clearing 6-03.50 (1.92m).

Freshman Derek Carpenter (Belpre) also represented Marietta well, taking ninth in the shot put with a mark of 44-06.25 (13.57m). He was the only freshman in Ohio to qualify for the event.

Curry also competed in the long jump and finished fourth with a mark of 21-01.50 (6.44m), while sophomore Joanna Ferrell (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South) took 12th in the 55m dash, crossing the line in 7.97 seconds.

Marietta will return in full force and look to build upon its successfull weekend Friday (Feb. 17), when it returns to Ada for Ohio Northern's Friday Night Series #4.

Sophomore Joe Webb set the school record in the 55m dash and contributed to a new 4x200m relay record at the All-Ohio Championships

Men's Results

Women's Results