1st of 9 at NCAC championship

March 1, 2008

Sophomore Casey Ridgeway (Fredericktown) won 2 events and helped a relay team to another win, and the Bishop 1600-meter relay team won the meet on the final event as Ohio Wesleyan successfully defended its North Coast Athletic Conference title by winning the NCAC indoor championship meet, hosted by Denison University on Friday and Saturday in Granville.

Ohio Wesleyan and Allegheny were tied at 146 points apiece going into the meet's last event, the 1600-meter relay. The Bishop squad of freshman Lainey Kekic (Canfield/Western Reserve), freshman Rachael Newman (Strongsville), senior Ashley Shaffer (Lancaster) and sophomore Kara Reiter (Chardon) finished second in a time of 4:08.15.

Ohio Wesleyan finished the meet with 154 points to 152 for Allegheny. Oberlin was third with 123 points, followed by Wittenberg (53 1/2), Wooster (42), Denison (36 1/2), Kenyon (27), Earlham (23) and Hiram (13).
Final results

Ridgeway won the 55-meter dash in a time of :07.36, breaking the school record of :07.39 she set last year, and won the 200-meter dash in :26.28. She combined with Kekic, sophomore Ashlie Britton (LeRoy/Painesville Riverside) and Shaffer to win the 800-meter relay in 1:47.43, breaking the school record of 1:49.70 set by Ridgeway, Ericka Newell, Erica Wehner, and Britton in 2007.

Sophomore Claire Everhart (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane) took Ohio Wesleyan's other first-place finish, winning the mile run in 5:25.75 and adding a seventh-place finish in the 3000-meter run.

Kekic took multiple All-NCAC honors, placing second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 400-meter dash and the high jump as well as sixth in the 55-meter dash.

Shaffer also won multiple all-conference honors, finishing second in the triple jump, with her effort of 35-5 3/4 breaking her own school record of 35-3 set in 2007, and second in the high jump. She also placed sixth in the 400-meter dash and eighth in the long jump.

Also receiving All-NCAC citations were Newman, who was second in the 800-meter run; and junior Valerie Sloboda (Columbia, Md./Atholton), who finished third in the mile run.

Other standouts for the Bishops included junior Jessica Merrill (Columbia Station/Columbia), who placed fourth in the triple jump, the long jump and the 55-meter hurdles and sixth in the high jump; freshman Kat Zimmerly (Edinboro, Pa./General McLane), who finished fourth in the mile run; Reiter, who was fifth in the 400-meter dash and seventh in the 800-meter run; junior Laura Binkley (Columbus/Bishop Watterson), who finished fifth in the 5000-meter run; junior Leah Schmelzer (Marion/Pleasant), who was sixth in the 3000-meter run and eighth in the 5000-meter run; sophomore Sharon Rymut (Broadview Heights/Brecksville-Broadview Heights), who was sixth in the shot put; and sophomore Amy Herrington (Vermilion), who finished seventh in the shot put.

The Bishop distance medley relay team of Sloboda, freshman Christa Cocumelli (Dublin/Bishop Watterson), sophomore Santa Zalite (Winston-Salem, N.C./Reynolds) and senior Donna Langerfeld (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) finished fourth.

Ridgeway was named Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year after winning the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash and running on the first-place 800-meter relay team.

Allegheny's Emily Pfeufer was named the women's Field Athlete of the Year after winning the long jump and the triple jump, while Oberlin's Joanna Johnson was picked Distance Runner of the Year after winning the 5000-meter run and finishing second in the 3000-meter run.

Ohio Wesleyan head coach Kris Boey was named NCAC Coach of the Year.