All-Conference Performances Key Tigers On Day 1 At NCAC Championships

After a rainy first day of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships, the Wittenberg Tiger track and field teams put themselves in strong position for an eventful Saturday.

May 1, 2009
Samantha Iden

Samantha Iden

DELAWARE, Ohio - After a rainy first day of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships, the Wittenberg Tiger track and field teams put themselves in strong position for an eventful Saturday. With a handful of finals contested, the Tiger men sit fifth and women find themselves seventh heading into the main portion of the conference's deciding day.

Among the top performances on Day 1, junior Mat Guida (LaGrange, Ky./Oldham County) threw the discus 145'8" for an All-NCAC third-place finish. Sophomore Nic Radel (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview Hts.) scored just two spots back with a mark of 135'3".

Junior Brandyn Brown (Louisville, Ky./Male) advanced to the finals of the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.20 while classmate Tim Uher (Granville, Ohio/Pickerington North) did likewise in his 110 hurdles. Freshman Justen Cox (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) took fourth in the pole vault to round out the day for the men's unit.

On the women's side, sophomore Kaitlyn Wesseler (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne)matched Cox's feat with a fourth-place mark of her own in the pole vault. An All-NCAC showing came from freshman Mary Pfeifer (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) in the 10,000 meters with a third place in a time of 39:14.00. Not far behind, fellow first-year Anna Henry (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) took sixth in 40:21.72.

In spite of a slow start to the scoring for the Tiger women, they sit primed to take points in bunches when the finals roll around as they have two qualifiers for the finals in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meter runs.

Among the qualifying highlights, freshman Samantha Iden (Pickerington, Ohio/North) had the second-fastest time in the preliminaries of the 800. FreshmanJordan Stafford (Springfield, Ohio/Greenon) added an impressive showing of her own, a prelim-best 58.57 run in the 400 dash.

Finals kick off on Saturday, May 2 from Ohio Wesleyan at 10 a.m. as the Tigers search for a top showing in the conference.

Written by: Ben Bradley, SID Assistant