1st of 9 at NCAC Relays

Feb. 2, 2008

Senior Ashley Shaffer (Lancaster) helped Ohio Wesleyan to 4 first-place finishes and freshman Lainey Kekic (Canfield/Western Reserve) was a part of 3 first-place finishes as the Bishops successfully defended their North Coast Athletic Conference Relays championship with a win in the annual NCAC Relays meet on Saturday in Granville.

Ohio Wesleyan won the meet with 97 points to 82 1/2 for runner-up Oberlin. Wooster finished in third place with 64 1/2 points, followed by Earlham (44), Denison (42 1/2), Wittenberg (40), Kenyon (27), Allegheny (20), and Hiram (1 1/2). The meet consists of relays, running events and field events, with the running events and field events scored by ranking the combined efforts of each school's top 2 participants.
Complete Results

Shaffer and Kekic combined to tie for first place in the high jump relay, with each Bishop clearing 4-11. They also teamed with freshman Christa Cocumelli (Dublin/Bishop Watterson) and sophomore Santa Zalite (Winston-Salem, N.C./Reynolds) to win the 1600 sprint medley relay in a time of 4:32.57.

Shaffer also combined with junior Jessica Merrill (Columbia Station/Columbia) to win the long jump and triple jump relays with respective totals of 31-3 3/4 and 66-4. Merrill's individual effot of 15-8 3/4 in the long jump was the best of the meet.

Kekic also teamed with freshman Rachael Newman (Strongsville), sophomore Casey Ridgeway (Fredericktown) and sophomore Kara Reiter (Chardon) to win the 1600-meter relay in 4:11.97.

Newman and Reiter were part of Ohio Wesleyan's other first-place relay team, combining with sophomore Amber Alegria (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic) and sophomore Claire Everhart (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane) to win the distance medley relay in 12:43.26.

Merrill and sophomore Ashlie Britton (LeRoy/Painesville Riverside) combined to finish second in the 55-meter hurdles relay, junior Leah Schmelzer (Marion/Pleasant) and junior Laura Binkley (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) finished second in the 5000-meter run relay, and the 3200-meter relay team of Alegria, junior Valerie Sloboda (Columbia, Md./Atholton), freshman Kat Zimmerly (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane) and Everhart finished second.

The Bishop 800-meter relay team of Kekic, freshman Tara Adams (Canton/North Canton Hoover), Britton and Shaffer placed third, while Adams and sophomore Emily Washek (Erie, Pa./McDowell) combined to finish fifth in the pole vault relay and Merrill and sophomore Sharon Rymut (Broadview Heights/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) finished seventh in the shot put relay.