Pioneer women take sixth, men ninth at 2007 OAC Indoor Relays
Marietta produces seven school-record performances

Jan. 27, 2007
BEREA, Ohio — The Marietta College men and women's track & field teams got their first chances to measure themselves against the Ohio Athletic Conference competition Saturday (Jan. 27) afternoon at the OAC Relays, hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College. The Pioneer women were the surprise of the meet, taking sixth place in the meet with 62 points. Marietta's men placed ninth with 37 points. [Results]

Ohio Northern's women (110 points) held off last year's winner Baldwin-Wallace (107 points) to take the team title. Mount Union's men (115.5 points) also knocked off last season's champion Ohio Northern (100 points) to claim the men's championship.

Marietta's women, who placed tenth a year ago, set four new school records and established two more at the event. Individually, freshman Kaitlin Smith broke the Pioneers' school record in the 5,000m run. Smith took 12th with a time of 20:23.44, breaking the previous mark of 21:19.9. In addition, sophomore Melissa Schulte, who finished fourth, broke the team's previous record in the long jump with a leap of 16-00.50 (4.89m). The old record was 15-10.00 (4.85m). Schulte also added a third-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 32-11.75 (10.05m).

The Pioneers' distance medley relay, which included freshman Randi Robertson, senior Brea Gardner, sophomore Jessi Larrison and freshman Shannon McDonald, shattered its school-record performance from a week ago (14:12.04) with a fifth-place finish, crossing the line in 13:17.12.

Marietta's 4x400m relay team—junior Sheena Spencer, sophomore Leslie Pyle, freshman Sidra Dhiraprasiddhi and Larrison—also broke the school record Saturday. The foursome ran to a sixth-place finish with a time of 4:22.17; the old record was 4:27.31.

Robertson, Larrison, freshman Stephanie Williams and Gardner joined forces to establish a school record in the 4x800m relay, taking fifth place with a time of 10:25.65. Junior Breanne Kosar, freshmen Sarita Dhiraprasiddhi and Brenda Puckett as well as Gardner established a school record in the 1,600m sprint medley, running to a ninth place finish in 4:48.10.

Senior Rachel Forman was the lone Pioneer to win an individual event. She took first place in the weight throw with a toss of 42-00.00 (12.80m). In addition, sophomore Tiffany Kovacevich placed second in the weight throw (39-11.28/12.17m) and ninth in the shot put (35-07.75/10.86m), while freshman Danielle Altenhof was seventh in the weight throw (34-07.75/10.56m). Another top-five finish came from Kosar in the high jump, as she tied for fourth with a mark of 5-00.25 (1.53m).

The men's squad, who finished ninth for the second straight year, had one school record performance. Sophomore Brian Pallini tied the school record in the weight throw, taking third with a mark of 48-03.25 (14.71m). Pallini also took sixth in the shot put, throwing 44-09.75 (13.66m).

The only other top six finisher for the Pioneer men was freshman Zach Gay in the high jump. Gay cleared 6-00.00 (1.83m) to earn a portion of sixth place.

Marietta returns to the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center for its next competition, which will be a seven-team meet Friday (Feb. 2) evening. Action begins at 4:30 p.m.

Junior Brea Gardner was a part of three school record performances on Saturday

Results