Chloe Burdette
Editor in Chief
The Fighting Scots track and field team ran in their last indoor meet of the season on Saturday, March 6 against the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops. Although the men and women failed to come out on top, their performances gave them motivation and encouragement for their next meet on March 27.
The team had their fair share of small victories in the meet, but are always looking for ways to improve. Even given the circumstances of COVID regulations and some athletes being unavailable due to injury, most runners were fairly content with their results. “Although I won the high jump, I definitely could have done better,” Richie Pajak ’22 said, speaking from the men’s team. Matt Olszewski ’21 also offered insight on his performance, saying, “Although I did not win my open event or the 4x400m, running a solid 800m time was encouraging to me in terms of the shape I am in now,” he said. “It was also a great feeling to be back with the team and running on the 4x400m relay. Overall, the team competed really well! It’s always nice to see everyone cheering each other on in their events.”
On the women’s team, mile-runner Kayla Bertholf ’22 finished with a time of 5:37.88 — around two mere seconds later than teammate Athena Tharenos ’24. “It felt like we didn’t really have a season; this was my first non-intrasquad meet this year, so racing yesterday felt like it should have been the first race of the season rather than the last,” Bertholf said. “I’m excited to transition to outdoor and hopefully have more chances to safely train and compete.”
For Georgia Hopps-Weber ’21, her pole vault performance was a great success. “Coming in second to one of the best vaulters in the conference is a win in my eyes,” Hopps-Weber said. “Having such good competition made the meet much more exciting than last week at Wittenberg where we had no competition in the pole vault event.”
For most of the team, especially seniors, one of their goals for the season was simply to compete in a meet with their teammates this year. “As a senior, it’s sad to think about my last collegiate race coming up in May,” Olszewski said. “It’s been quite the time here at Woo and I’m thankful to have had amazing coaches and teammates to make the journey and the sport of track and field that much more fun and memorable.” According to Hopps-Weber, her time with her team will be valued even more after she turns in her Independent Study (I.S.). “It is hard to believe that my days of being a student athlete are coming to an end,” she added. “I am excited for my last season and I hope that once I turn in my I.S. I can fully devote myself to making it my best season yet! I will miss going to practice every day and competing with my fellow Fighting Scots, but I am ready to take in every moment of this last season and have a lot of fun with my team and coaches.”
The track and field squad will next compete at home in the Wooster Invitational on Saturday, March 27.
