GRANVILLE, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's and women's track and field teams put together solid team finishes at the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Outdoor Championships, highlighted by a trio of first-place finishers.
The Tiger men placed sixth in the nine-team field, while the Tiger women finished fourth of eight teams.
The highlight of the meet was provided by freshman Whitney Goller (Findlay, Ohio/Liberty Benton), who rounded out a tremendous inaugural collegiate campaign with Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year honors. She finished first in the 100-meter hurdles, seventh in the 100-meter dash and ran a leg of the first-place 4x100-meter relay. All this in addition to a sixth-place finish in the previous week's heptathlon and a second-place finish in the long jump.
Goller was joined on the 4x100 relay by freshmanShawnquaya Johnson (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont), sophomore Jordan Stafford (Springfield, Ohio/Greenon) and sophomore Kari Domiano (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome). They crossed the finish line in 49.49.
Other Tiger women who earned All-NCAC honors were Stafford with a third place in the 400 meters, sophomore Samantha Iden (Pickerington, Ohio/North) with a third place in the 800 meters, sophomoreDarcy Dubuc (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) with a third place in the 1500, junior Karen Bellanca (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) with a third place in the javelin, senior Carrie Dyer (Copley, Ohio/Copley) with a third place in the high jump and freshman Kaileigh Bible (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) with a third place in the pole vault.
Rounding things out for the women were the members of the 4x400-meter relay, sophomore Catherine Kuerbitz (Cleveland, Ohio/Regina), Domiano, Johnson and Stafford, who placed second to earn All-NCAC recognition.
On the men's side, a pair of first-place finishers provided the high points as freshman David Kolakowski (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) claimed the top spot in the pole vault and freshman Aaron Hartzell (Springfield, Ohio/Northeastern) took first place in the high jump. For Hartzell, it added up to a clean sweep of the 2010 NCAC high jump titles after he also won the indoor event in March.
Other Tiger men who earned All-NCAC honors were junior Thomas McElwee (Herriman, Utah/Blue Valley) with a third place finish in the javelin and senior Tim Uher (Granville, Ohio/Pickerington Central) with a title in the previous week's decathlon. Uher added a fourth place finish in the long jump, eighth place in the javelin and seventh place in the 110-meter hurdles.