Marietta women place second and men third at MC Open #2
Pioneers set four school records and have six individual champions at fourth meet of the year

Feb. 2, 2007
MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College men and women's track & field teams each earned top-three finishes at the MC Open #2 Friday (Feb. 2) evening in the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center. The Pioneer women collected 194 points to place second, while the men totaled 93 points, which was good enough for a third place finish. Otterbein College swept the eight-team event; the Cardinal women collected 243 points and the men earned 203 points. [Results]

For the 14th straight indoor meet, dating back to the beginning of the 2005-06 season, at least one Marietta College record fell when the Pioneers competed as a team. On Friday, Marietta's women set three school record and tied another. In addition, the Lady Pioneers produced four individual champions and had one relay win a title, while the men had two athletes win an event.

Marietta's women throwers combined for 44 points at the meet. Sophomore Tiffany Kovacevich set a school record in the shot put, taking second place with a mark of 38-07.75 (11.78m). She also placed second in the weight throw with a toss of 38-05.50 (11.72m). Senior teammate Rachel Forman claimed the weight throw title with a throw of 41-10.50 (12.76m) and finished fifth in the shot put with a mark of 32-00.75 (9.77m). Senior Rachelle Cole made it a clean sweep in the weight throw with a third place finish, throwing 34-10.50 (10.63m) Freshman Danielle Altenhof took fourth in the weight throw (31-08.50/9.66m) and sixth in the shot put (29-11.50/9.13m).

The Lady Pioneer jumpers racked up 46 points and posted a pair of first place finishes Friday. Junior Breanne Kosar tied her school record performance (5-01.75/1.57m) en route to a high jump victory. Kosar and Otterbein's Kyra Smith each missed their first three attempts at the final height, but Kosar cleared her fourth attempt to earn the title. Sophomore Melissa Schulte finished third in both the high jump (4-11.75/1.52m) and the long jump (15-11.50/4.86m). Freshman Jen Valentic won the pole vault, while senior Janelle Rodes placed second. Both cleared 8-06.00 (2.59m), but Valentic won the tie breaker, which was based on misses. Freshman Sarita Dhiraprasiddhi rounded out the scoring for the jumpers with a third place finish in the triple jump. Dhiraprasiddhi leaped 31-01.75 (9.49m).

Marietta's women runners accounted for the remaining 104 points, setting two school records on the way. Sophomore Jessi Larrison set the school record in the 800m run, crossing the line in 2:22.57, which placed her second. Freshman Shannon McDonald broke the school record in the 1,000m run, placing third with a time of 3:23.07. Another highlight was Mallory Sinoski, who won the 200m dash with a time of 29.64 seconds. In addition, senior Brea Gardner took second in the 500 dash, finishing in 1:24.99, Sidra Dhiraprasiddhi was third in the 300m dash (46.87 seconds), while sophomore Leslie Pyle placed third in the 55m hurdles (9.48 seconds).

The women's distance medley relay, which included freshmen Kaitlin Smith, Caitlin Piotrowski, Stephanie Williams and Logan Wern, also ran to a first place finish. The team finished the race in 14:22.43.

Marietta's three male throwers each had top-eight finishes in both of their events. Sophomore Brian Pallini won the weight throw (44-02.75/13.48m) and took eighth in the shot put (43-04.25/13.21m). Sophomore Derek Carpenter was fifth in the shot put (45-00.50/13.73m) and fourth in the weight throw (41-08.75/12.72m). Junior Dan DeZordo placed second in the weight throw (44-02.00/13.46m) and seventh in the shot put (43-04.50/13.22m).

Freshman Zach Gay was the lone jumper to compete Friday. He took sixth in the long jump with a mark of 19-03.25 (5.87m).

Sophomore Jered Mitchem's first place finish in the 800m run highlighted the Pioneer runners' evening. Mitchem crossed the line in 2:01.96. Other top-five performances included senior Tim Roberts in the 500m dash (4th/1:13.10), senior Ben Williams in the 300m dash (5th/42.74 seconds) and junior John Hull in the mile (3rd/4:46.79) as well as the 3,000m run (5th/9:29.54).

Marietta is back in action on both Friday (Feb. 9) and Saturday (Feb. 10th) of next weekend. On Friday, the Pioneers will host an open meet on Winter Weekend. All alumni are encouraged to participate. On Saturday, those Pioneers that qualified will travel to the D-III All-Ohio Championships at Otterbein College.

Junior Breanne Kosar won the high jump and tied her indoor school record Friday

Results