Anna Hartig
Staff Writer
The College of Wooster men’s and women’s track and field teams started the indoor season with a quad meet at Wooster this past Saturday, Jan. 20 at Gault Recreation Center. Both programs received second-place finishes against Ohio Wesleyan University, Earlham College and Kenyon College, with the men totaling 91 points and the women earning 71 points.
The men’s team brought four first-place wins in order to pull the Fighting Scots towards success. Myles Parker ’19, Brian Lief ’19, Aedan Pettit ’20 and Jack Petrecca ’19 finished first with a winning time of 3:40.95 in the 4×400-meter relay.
Petrecca also earned first place in the high jump with a height of 6 feet and 4.25 inches. Petrecca’s impeccable performance this past weekend earned him the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men’s Field Athlete of the Week honors. Along with the first place high jump at Wooster’s Quad Meet, Petrecca marks the current best in the conference.
Tom Helsel ’18 won the triple jump leap of 38 feet and 7.50 inches. Lief and Petit brought home first and second place in the mile with times of 4:37.46 and 4:40.63. “This meet is a good starting point for us and sets us up to improve where we left off from last year,” Pettit said. The team took advantage of their first home meet to start off the season strong. The men are hoping to bring this success into the rest of the season and continue to showcase their positive attitude.
The women’s team found similar victories at the meet. Elizabeth Obi ’18 earned first place in triple jump with a distance of 33 feet and 1.25 inches along with a fourth-place finish in the high jump with 5 feet and 0.25 inches. Teammate Collier Summay ’19 brought the Fighting Scots to victory in the women’s 3K with a time of 12:41. In the 4×400-meter relay, Regan Szalay ’20, Julia Higgins ’19, Zoe Covey ’21, and Emani Kelley ’19 earned second place with a time of 4:22.63 concluding the competition.
“We owe a lot of what we do to the coaching staff,” Higgins said. “They each set the expectations for what we do in practice and how we perform on the weekends,” Higgins said. “Through them, we’ve learned what it means to have respect, determination, and strength—on and off the track.”
With this in mind, the team hopes to continue their hard work throughout the season in order to find a winning advantage in both the indoor and outdoor championships. “To achieve our long-term goal, we have to break up our season into short term goals,” Higgins said. “So we look forward to the indoor championships and regular competition meets. Every weekend we have the opportunity to work toward our goals for May and every weekend is a chance to improve ourselves and compete hard.”
Make sure to support both the men’s and women’s track and field programs as they host their second home meet of the season Sat., Jan. 27. The teams will be looking to continue to improve from the strong starts to their seasons. The Fighting Scots Invitational kicks off at 12:00 p.m. for the field events and 2:30 p.m. for the track events at the Gault Recreation Center.