Wieferich Helps Boost Scots to Six-Spot Improvement at NCAC's

Katie Wieferich, pictured here with NCAC Executive Director Dennis Collins (left) and Hiram AD and NCAC Track Liason Tom Mulligan, was named NCAC Middle Distance/Distance Runner of the Year.

The College of Wooster women’s track & field program made a dramatic move at this weekend’s (May 4-5) North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, improving six spots in the nine-team league from last season, as the Fighting Scots, led by NCAC Middle Distance/Distance Runner of the Year Katie Wieferich, scored 89.5 points.

Wooster’s total was just enough to beat out Denison University (83) and Earlham College (81) for third-place, while Allegheny College cruised to the team title (211), beating out Ohio Wesleyan University (138).

The Scots, who came into the weekend with two points from Ashley Baker’s seventh-place effort in the NCAC heptathlon (2622) on April 29-30, combined for eight all-conference (top-three) performances. Wieferich, who also was the NCAC Middle Distance/Distance Runner of the Year at the indoor meet, cruised to individual wins in the 10,000 meters on Thursday and 5000 meters Friday. Her time of 38:26.43 in the 10,000 was more than 80 seconds faster than her nearest competitor (39:50.30), while she covered the 5000 in a school-record time of 17:39.27, nearly 30 seconds before the runner-up (18:08.11).

Wooster’s other leaders throughout the spring have been Jill Berner and Ali Drushal. At the NCAC’s, Berner upped her school record in the pole vault to 11 feet, 9.75 inches (second-place), a mark that will likely earn her an invite to the NCAA Div. III Championships as it‘s tied for the 11th-highest in the nation this spring. Berner added a third-place showing in the 400 meters (1:02.53), an event in which she was complemented by teammate Hannah Bierlein, who took seventh (1:04.35).

Drushal competed in three individual events, earning All-NCAC recognition with third-place finishes in both the javelin (111 feet, 6 inches) and 400-meter hurdles (1:07.45) as well as placing fourth in the pole vault (10 feet, 1.25 inches).

Berner and Drushal teamed together, along with Kate Legg and Bierlein, for a runner-up performance in the 4x400-meter relay (4:09.98).

The Scots’ eighth All-NCAC citation came from Katie Dale via a third-place mark in the shot put of  37 feet, 4 inches, and she added three more team points with a sixth-place throw in the discus (104 feet).

Kayla Miller was a double-scorer as well, taking fifth in the triple jump (34 feet, 11.25 inches) and seventh in the high jump (4 feet, 11.75 inches). Also in the high jump for Wooster, Natalee Noche was eighth (4 feet, 9.75 inches).

Other individual scorers consisted of Ashley Zervos finishing sixth in the 10,000 (41:25.66), Legg tying for seventh-place in the pole vault (8 feet, 11.5 inches), Kelly Patton coming in eighth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:13.05), and Victoria Peterman producing an eighth-place throw in the discus (30 feet, 11.75 inches).