Tigers Off To Great Start In NCAC Outdoor Championships

The Tiger track teams are off to another great start in the annual NCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

May 1, 2002

Geri Woessner

The Tiger track teams are off to another great start in the annual NCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. This weekend, both hope to continue their strong early showing, as they did a year ago.

Last year, Josh Guerreri and Geri Woessner claimed the decathlon and heptathlon titles respectively, both setting school records and scoring 10 points each for their teams in the overall meet standings. Brian Gehle added to the haul with a second-place finish in the decathlon.

The names have changed, only slightly, but the results were the same for the Tigers in 2002. Senior Brian Gehle (Huntsville, Ohio/Indian Lake) and sophomore Tim Gaal (Amanda, Ohio/Clearcreek) finished first and second respectively in the decathlon last weekend at Wooster. Gehle's mark of 6040 was good for provisional qualification to the NCAA Division III Championships next month. Meanwhile, sophomore Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) cruised to her second straight crown on the women's side, breaking her own school record in the process.

The results put the Tigers in the early lead for the team titles. Like last year, the rest of the events will be contested at Ohio Wesleyan University this Friday and Saturday.

For their performances last weekend, Gehle and Woessner were named NCAC Field Events Athletes of the Week.

Also last week, several Tiger athletes competed in the Otterbein Twilight Invitational on Wednesday, with sophomore Joel Drake (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) winning the discus on the men's side and senior Melanie Ziarko (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood) taking top honors in the 5000. Then at Baldwin-Wallace on Friday, in a meet that included more than 50 schools from around the country from all divisions, several Tiger athletes turned in strong performances, including Drake and senior Chris Silliman (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington), who finished fifth and sixth respectively in the discus, and sophomore Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison), who took third in the 110-meter hurdles.