Pioneers have another successful showing at Ohio Northern
Men take second and women place third, while three records fall

Feb. 17, 2006
ADA, Ohio – For the second straight week, Marietta's track & field program made the long bus trip to Ohio Northern to compete and, once again, the Pioneers had a successful showing at the site of the upcoming Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. On Friday (Feb. 17), the men's squad compiled 167 points to run away with second place, while the women totaled 96 to finish third overall. Host Ohio Northern took first place in both the men and women's competition.

As has been the case at every indoor meet this season, more Marietta records fell at the ONU Sports Center. The women broke two records and the men set one of their own.

Freshman Jessi Larrison ( Batavia) broke classmate Jessica Haas' record in the 500m run, winning the event in a time of 1:22.68. Hass previously set the record on Feb. 10, 2006, with a mark of 1:26.47.

Larrison and Haas teamed up with sophomore Joanna Ferrell (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Parkersburg South) and freshman Leslie Pyle (Kansas City, MO/Pembroke Hill) to break the school record in the 4x400m relay. The group finished second with a time of 4:27.31. Marietta's previous record, 4:35.14, was set earlier this year.

The men's 4x200m relay team, which included freshman Seth Gordon (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy), sophomore Joe Webb (Monessen, Pa./Ringgold), senior Jeff Sherman (Akron/North) and junior Jason Curry (Akron/Springfield), topped their school-record time (1:33.01) from a week ago at Ohio Northern. The relay team placed second, finishing in 1:32.89.

There were many other significant performances Friday. On the women's side, Haas set a new personal record (1:04.58) in the 400m dash and placed third. Sophomore Kileen Lehman (Elyria/Elyria Catholic) beat her personal record in the 1,000m, finishing in 3:58.93. Freshman Melissa Schulte (Pemberville/Eastwood), competing in her first collegiate meet, took fifth in the high jump (1.37m/4-06.00) and third in the long jump (4.44m/14-07.00). In addition, freshman Tiffany Kovacevich (Strongsville) won the shot put with a mark of 11.16m (36-07.50), while sophomore Alecia Benninger (Akron/Springfield) placed second in the event with a season's best throw of 10.64m (34-11.00).

For the men, Webb finished second in the 60m dash, crossing the line in 7.12 seconds. He ran a 7.09 in the prelims. Freshman Isaiah Johnson (Englewood, N.J./Horace Mann) placed second in the 400m dash, finishing in 53.84 seconds. Sophomore Harrison Potter (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chilli) also had a second place finish, running the mile in new personal best time of 4:27.74. Freshman Jered Mitchem (Marietta/Warren Local) set a personal record (2:03.34) in the 800m run and finished fourth. Sophomore John Hull (Scott Depot, W.Va./Winfield) won the 5,000m run and set a new personal record with a time of 16:37.12. Freshman Seth Townsend (Belleville, W.Va./Parkersburg South) won the high jump, clearing 1.88m (6-02.00). Curry reached a season-best (6.48m/21-03.25) in the long jump en route to a first place finish. In addition, sophomore Dan DeZordo (Louisville/Marlington) won the shot put (13.55m/44-05.50) and set a new personal record in the weight throw (13.22m/43-04.50), placing fourth.

Marietta will return to action Saturday (Feb. 25) when it hosts its final indoor meet of the season. The Marietta Open #2 is slated to begin with the field events at 4:30 p.m.

Freshman Leslie Pyle anchored Marietta's school-record performance in the women's 4x400m relay Friday

Men's Results

Women's Results