Miles Rochester
Sports Editor
The Scots rose to the occasion and performed phenomenally all around this past Saturday as Wooster’s women and men traveled to Gambier, Ohio to compete in the Kenyon Invitational. A victory-seeking fire burnt in their hearts as both teams competed to the best of their abilities amidst Saturday’s blistering heat. The men impressed placing second of six, beaten only by Mount Vernon Nazarene University while the women destroyed the competition to obtain the highest podium position and the women’s first golden finish since 2019.
To deliver defeat to many conference rivals, such as hosts Kenyon, alongside Denison and Wittenberg, Wooster’s competitors needed to push their own limits and many of them did. Will McMichael was one athlete who accomplished this, then he decided to take it one step further to push alum Reggie Ray’s 22-year-old 400m record of 48.70 aside and replace it with his own time of 48.47. McMichael’s time not only crushed the hopes of his rivals and earned him an event win, but it also placed the Scot senior in the nation’s top 20.
More records were itching to be amended and Dylan Garretson ’24 was feeling good, in the mood to edit his week-old record in outdoor pole vault. Until Saturday, only eight Division III athletes had reached the height of 15 feet 10 inches in pole vault, after Garretson was done vaulting, that number rose to nine. Additionally, Garretson’s personal win tally increased while pushing the Wooster men towards the top in their pursuit of a victory in Gambier.
Athena Tharenos ’24 got in on the fun and had herself a fantastic day bringing in first in the open 800m, as well as anchoring the winning 4×400 alongside Maia Doesher ’25, Haley Bloom ’23 and Inga Mendez ’25.
Following in the current winning trend of the Scots, sophomore Ainsley Wiesner’s 97-foot 11-inch huck of a javelin secured her right to gold, while her male javelin throwing counterpart, Troy Baughman, beat his own personal best, as well as all his competitors, to grant Wooster’s javelineers two more wins on the day for the Scots and two personal victories worth being proud about.
Pride was plentiful on Saturday, and Isaiah Kidd ’25 earned his share when he leapt 44 feet and 8 inches in the triple jump to secure a first-place finish and an impressive 22 feet and 1 inch in the long jump to place second in that event.
Another personal best was set by Alex DeLong ’22 in his 800m victory as the senior ended his race with a time of 1:56.
Yet another victory came for the Scots when record breaking McMichael, Nick Scherson ’22, Joe Shilts ’23 and Davis Patterson ’24, dusted the competition in the men’s 4×400 to end the victory-filled invitational
All cylinders are firing for the Scots’ track and field program as they plan to carry on their positive momentum into their next meet: The Dennison Invitational, Friday, April 29.
