Izzy Wild
Contributing Writer
Thomas Pitney
Sports Editor
The Wooster track and field team continued its winning streak in its dual meet against Denison University on Thursday, Jan. 27 in the Scot Center. After continually swapping leads with Denison throughout the meet, the 4×400-meter relay turned out to be the determining factor in the men’s team’s thrilling 74-73 win over the Big Red. Meanwhile, the women’s team had an outstanding win with a final score of 88-25.
Both the men’s and women’s teams were exceptional in the field events. The women’s team was led by another standout performance by Drew Patterson ’24. Patterson won the high jump with a height of five feet and one inch, as well as the triple jump with a mark of 31 feet and six inches. Reflecting on her performance, Patterson said that “My coach and I were happy with my jumps at the meet since I’m still learning triple jump and working on my high jump approach.” Daysia Hargrave ’25 pulled out another win for the women’s team in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet and three-and-a-quarter inches, as well as winning the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.72 seconds. On the men’s team, Luke Henke ’23 took first in the high jump, reaching an impressive height of six feet and three-quarter inches followed by first-year Vell Robinson, who took home a win in the triple jump with a mark of 40 feet.
Pole vaulters from both the men’s and women’s teams also excelled, with Morgan Kromer ’22 reaching 10 feet and six inches with the fewest attempts, taking first place. Dylan Garretson ’24 took the gold for the men’s team with a height of 15 feet and three inches. Garretson’s vault ended up breaking the school record of 15 feet that had been set in 1989 by Jeff Waughs. His incredible vault not only beat a 33-year-old record, but also ties for 12th nationally.
The women’s team cruised to victory thanks to the show put on by the runners on the track. Igna Mendez ’25 had quite the run with her winning 400-meter dash time of 1.06.71. Keeping pace with the sprints’ wins, the Scots’ distance runners came through, as first-year Dylan Kretchmar won both the one-mile run and the 800-meter race. Kretchmar had an impressive 5.18.09 for the mile and concluded his events with the 800 boasting a time of 2.32.92. The women capped off their tremendous performance with the 4×200-meter team of Maya Vasta ’22, Patterson, Daysia Hargrave ’25 and Claudia Partridge ’22 winning the event uncontested with a final time of 1.52.14
The track events fared just as well in the fight for the men’s team to come back and overtake the Big Red with wins from Nick Sherson ’22 in the 400-meter race with a time of 52.10 seconds and Bryant Douglas II ’25 in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.29 seconds.
With one final chance to seal the deal and win the meet, the men’s 4×400 relay team pushed hard in an incredible race. Starter Joe Shilts ’23 gained a strong lead, which was then narrowly-maintained by the runners of the second and third legs, Ben Nichols ’25 and Kyle Stringer ’24. Davis Patterson ’23 anchored and secured the meet-winning race with a final time of 3.38.49 against Denison’s 3.38.85. Reflecting on the relay, Patterson said, “I got put on the 4×400 anchor leg halfway through the meet. Right before the race, Coach Rice let me know we had to get first to win the meet. I was very anxious before the race knowing that last meet, I lost in the last 20 meters of the race. I took my teammates’ advice to hold form on the last stretch of the race and managed to take the lead in the last stretch of the 4×400 and win the meet for my team.” Not only did the 4×400 do well, but the 4×200 “B-team” of Shilts, Nick Scherson ’22, Liam Regan ’25 and Craig Akiri ’23 also secured an excellent win, closely followed by Wooster’s “A-team” of Bryant Douglas ll ’25, Kristian Coleman ’22, Troy Baughman ’22 and Harvey Briscoe ’22. Team B finished with the fastest time of 1.34.34 and Team A was not far behind with a time of 1.34.85.
The Wooster Scots track and field team is looking solid in the early stages of the season, and it is evident that these runners are enthusiastic and excited to push themselves to hopefully win the conference. Amelia Carmack ’24 stated “It was definitely a transition getting back into racing. Overall, I think we all did really well as a team and I felt pretty good for the start of the season.” Shilts echoed Carmack’s sentiments, saying it was a great team effort to beat Denison, that he is so proud of the team and was excited to see them pull out a win. The support and sense of community from this team is going to be a huge driving force that might just win them the conference.
Wooster Track and Field hopes to continue their early-season momentum on Saturday, Feb. 5, when the Scots travel to Denison University to compete in the Bob Shannon Invitational and the All-Ohio Heptathlon.