By Maddie Moran
The Wooster track and field team raced over to Granville, Ohio this past Saturday, Feb. 8, to compete in the Bob Shannon Invitational hosted by Denison University. In addition to Denison, the Fighting Scots took on California University of Pennsylvania, Case Western Reserve University, Kenyon College, Muskingum University, Seton Hill University, Washington and Jefferson College and Waynesburg University. The men’s team finished fourth in the field, while the women’s team took sixth, close behind Seton Hill and Muskingum.
“Both teams showed great confidence competing at Denison,” said head coach Dennis Rice. “The All-Ohio Championships will give us an opportunity to compete against the top talent in Ohio.”
In a field of 36 runners, Wooster’s Cooper Norwell ’27 cracked the top 10 in the men’s 200-meter dash. Cameron Ray ’25 took fifth in the men’s 400-meter dash after Denison and Case Western runners. The men’s mile found Wooster with two runners in the top 10, with Ben Nichols ’25 rolling in at 4:43 for fifth place and Joe Ahmann ’26 close behind at 4:50 for eighth place. In addition, Drew Robertson ’25 found the Scots a first-place finish in the men’s 3000-meter race with a time of 8:47, coming in 6 seconds before the runner up.
Wooster followed up their individual efforts with a second-place finish in both the 4×200-meter and 4×400-meter relays. In the 4×200, Cameron Sentieri ’27, Liam Regan ’25, Norwell and Ray came in at 1:35, just 3 seconds behind Denison. The same group competed in the 4×400 with a time of 3:36 behind Case Western.
Two Scots found themselves in the top 10 of the women’s 200-meter dash: Izzy Cozzie ’26 placed fifth with a time of 27.52 seconds and Amelia Mitchell ’25 placed sixth with a time of 27.54 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, Igna Mendez ’25 took eighth with a time of 1:03. The women’s mile featured 2 more Scots in the top 10: Isabelle Dwyer ’25 took sixth place coming in at 5:57 and Zanna Anderson ’27 took eighth with a time of 6:01.
“There were a lot of PR’s or indoor season bests,” said Dwyer. “It seems that our training is really starting to click for most people which is getting us all excited as we are moving into our championship season and further into outdoor.”
Daysia Hargrave ’25 dominated the competition in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.09 seconds. Hargrave then brought home yet another first place finish for the Fighting Scots in the 4×400 with teammates Cozzie, Mendez and Breena Katz ’28, coming in with a time of 4:14.
Two Wooster jumpers finished in the top 10 of the women’s high jump: Mitchell jumped 1.48 meters and placed fourth and Anaya Brady ’26 jumped 1.43 meters and tied for fifth. Sarah Hiestand ’26 cracked the top 3 in the women’s pole vault with a height of 2.75 meters, while Claire Davis ’27 took sixth in the triple jump, jumping 9.48 meters.
“I mentally prepared by envisioning the meet and myself doing my events,” said Echo Kidd ’25. “I did my practice and focused on the technical details to ensure that my fundamentals were correct. [The team] performed well and did excellent in their events, as expected from the Fighting Scots’ track and field team.”
Kidd managed to snag both a top 3 finish in the men’s high jump and first-place in the men’s long jump, jumping 1.83 meters and 6.66 meters, respectively. Vell Robinson ’25 took a top 5 finish in the men’s pole vault with a height of 3.49 meters.
Evie Sanford ’26 rose to the top of the field of 23 throwers, finishing in second place in the women’s shot put with a throw of 11.96 meters. Robert Mays ’26 finished 10th in a field of 35 throwers in the men’s shot put with a distance of 12.35 meters and eighth in the weight throw at 11.96 meters.
“It’s a really special thing to watch your teammates succeed and accomplish their goals–we see each other work so hard everyday,” said Dwyer. “So I feel like this was a really prime example of this happening.”
Wooster will compete in the All-Ohio Championships on Saturday, Feb. 15 at Otterbein University.