Gossels of Williams Earns Second NCAA Title with Win in 5,000-meter Run
Courtesy Ohio Wesleyan
DELAWARE, Ohio – Jennifer Gossels of Williams added another distance title to her mantle with a first-place time of 17:06.76 in the womne's 5,000-meter run. Gossels also won the 10,000-meter run Thursday night for the Ephs, who finished fifth in the team standings.
Wisconsin-Oshkosh dominated the throwing events at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Ohio Wesleyan. Titan throwers won three of the four events contested at the three-day meet, which put the team in position for its ninth national title.
Fittingly, it was a throwing event that salted away the championship for Wisconsin-Oshkosh. When sophomore Breanna Strupp uncorked a 48.90 meter (160-05) throw with the discus, she won the Titans' fourth individual championship of the weekend and gave her team an insurmountable lead in the standings.
The men's title wasn’t decided until the final event Saturday. When the dust settled following a dramatic 4x400-meter relay, North Central (Illinois) owned first place in the team standings by a narrow 58-56 margin over Wisconsin-La Crosse.
In other events at the final day of the NCAA Track and Field Championships, Bowdoin junior Elsa Millett finished fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.66.
Middlebury senior Kaitlyn Saldanha was fourth in the 800-meter run, posting a time of 2:12.94. Junior teammate Margo Cramer was second in the 1,500-meter in 4:23.15, just over one second behind the championship-winning time. Amherst junior Melissa Sullivan was ninth in the event (4:35.41), and Tufts senior Amy Wilfert was 12th (4:42.45).
Jumbo sophomre Kelly Allen finished fourth in the discus throw with a toss of 44.96 meters, roughly four meters off the winning toss. Allen's mark came on her sixth and final throw.
In the men's 800-meter run, junior Ben Scheetz of Amherst was less than a second off the championship-winning time, placing second with a performance of 1:50.79. Senior Michael Schmidt of Middlebury was eighth in the 5,000-meter run (14:50.28).
Sophomore Steven Simalchik of Williams came in eighth in the javelin with a toss of 62.12 meters.
Following the Williams women in fifth from the NESCAC was Midllebury in 12th with 15 points, Tufts tied for 13th with 14 points, and Bowdoin in 52nd with four poitns. Among NESCAC men's teams, Amherst placed in a two-way tie for 31st with eight points, Middlebury, Bates, Tufts, and Connecticut College finished in a 12-way tie for 57th with three points, and Williams and Wesleyan tied for 75th with six others with one point.
