NCAC Indoor Championships

A trio of competitors kicked off the 2012 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships for Allegheny as this year's iteration of the indoor conference meet began a week before the rest of the meet with the heptathlon. Hill finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.36 to spark a strong start for the Blue and Gold. Taggart split 7.69 in a tightly-contested fourth heat while finishing 11th overall in the event. Ordines capped the opening event with a time of 8.15.

Zach Hill

Hill followed up the good start with a fourth-place finish in the long jump (20'4.25”) while delivering his best leap on his last attempt. Taggart's top effort covered a distance of 19'9” to place seventh and Ordines finished 11th with a jump of 18'3.25”. Ordines made a move for the Gators in the shot put, pacing Allegheny's contingent with a fifth-place throw of 32'8.5”. Taggart (30'4.75”) and Hill (29'8.25”) finished 12th and 13th, respectively, but less than one hundred points was lost in their chase of the lead pack.

The opening day of the heptathlon championship concluded with the high jump. Allegheny flexed its muscle in the event by placing all three competitors in the top six, including a tie for first by Taggart, who cleared a meet-best 6'2” on his first attempt. Ordines jumped 5'10.5” on his last attempt to secure third overall, while Hill closed in sixth after clearing 5'7”.

Zach Hill finished fifth overall in the two-day heptathlon. Hill entered the day sixth in the individual standings, but moved up the rankings with a fourth-place finish in the last event of the competition. The first-year team member ran 2:52.71 in the 1,000-meter run to orchestrate a 350-point swing against OWU's Erik Wall. He also finished eighth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.58 and 10th in the pole vault with a clear of 9'7.25”. Hill finished with a personal-record total of 4,062. Although they were kept out of the scoring, rookies Nathan Taggart and Taylor Ordines also pieced together solid first-time efforts in the seven-event competition.

Taggart opened the day with a fourth-place finish in the hurdles, shooting out of the blocks en route to a personal-record of 9.12. Taggart was unable to maintain the strong start through the final two events while falling to ninth overall with a score of 3,893. Ordines finished 13th in the competition with a total of 3,534. He closed 10th overall in both the hurdles and pole vault.

Senior Lauren Butler and junior Bobby Over captured individual titles at the 2012 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, sparking a strong performance for the Gators on the first day of the meet. Butler delivered a pedestrian performance in the shot put, but only needed her first throw to distinguish herself from the field. Winning the shot with a mark of 40'4.75”, Butler etched her name into the annals of NCAC lore by winning the event for the fourth consecutive season. She is currently ranked 17th in the nation in the event as she looks to make a repeat trip to the NCAA Championships.

Junior distance standout Bobby Over fueled the men's team on Friday after breaking the tape in a tightly-contested 5,000-meter run. The pace was unsurprisingly slow at the start of the race, while Over asserted himself in the lead pack from the opening gun. Holding off a strong charge by Wabash senior Brian David, Over finished the race in 15:13.62 en route to his first league crown. The Gators picked up 15 points in the 5k as senior Patrick McLaughlin finished sixth and junior Kevin Edwards was awarded seventh. The Allegheny tandem produced the exact same time (15:24.93), while finishing two one-hundredths of a second behind DePauw's Noah Droody.

Freshman Ashley Krause gave the women's unit an unexpected boost with a second-place effort in the triple jump. Krause's last attempt of 33'7.25” fell just short of conference gold, but served as the Gators' first points of the 2012 Championship.

On the men's side, a pair of solid performances triggered more points in the team race. It took all six jumps for rookie Taylor Ordines to manufacture a personal best, but his final leap of the competition covered 41'5.75” and resulted in a fifth-place finish. Zach Hill jumped two seeds en route to sixth in the triple jump. His last two jumps were both strong as he delivered a PR of 40'9.75”.

Sophomore Kristina Martin finished seventh overall in the 5,000m with a time of 18:40.89 while freshman Andy Sharfman finished just outside of the scoring in 18:58.59.

Senior Taylor Throckmorton cruised to a victory in the prelims of the men's 400m, splitting 50.15 to produce the second-fastest time during the qualifying rounds. Throck also coasted in the prelims of the 200m, piecing together the fourth-fastest performance of the day with a time of 22.81.

Sarah Moss

Sophomore Sarah Moss earned All-Conference honors in three different events to lead Allegheny at the 2012 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships. Senior Lauren Butler was Named NCAC Field Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive campaign.

Moss began her day with a third-place finish in the high jump (4'11”), but her effort on the track was more impressive. After logging a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles to snag the final spot during Friday's prelims, Moss delivered a fantastic result in the championship final after finishing third with a time of 9.70. She capped her break-out day by closing second overall in the 400m behind another new personal best (1:00.65).

Outside of Moss, the Gators received the rest of their firepower in the weight. Senior Lauren Butler, who made conference history on Friday by winning her fourth consecutive shot put title, finished second in the weight with a throw of 44'4”.  Although Butler paced Allegheny's throwing contingent, freshman Alexa Mochan provided the meet's biggest surprise. Mochan unleashed an enormous personal best while grabbing a surprising third in the weight with a mark of 43'4.25.” The result marked the fourth-best performance ever in the event by an Allegheny athlete.  Tova Feinberg also picked up a point for the Blue and Gold after finishing eighth in the event with a toss of 41'0.5”.

Lauren Butler and Taylor Throckmorton

Senior Taylor Throckmorton set the conference record in the 400-meter dash to lead a strong performance by Allegheny on the last day of the NCAC Indoor Championships. Throckmorton was named NCAC Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year and the Gators finished third overall.  Taylor split 49.32 in the open quarter, holding off Ohio Wesleyan's Ethan Freet (49.59) in a fantastic finish en route to his first individual league crown . Both competitors eclipsed one of the conference's oldest records which had stood since 1999.  Throckmorton settled for runner-up honors in the 200m in another tight final. Silas Jolliff broke the tape with a time of 22.42, while Throckmorton finished just back in 22.47.  Taylor also anchored Allegheny's fourth-place 4x400-meter relay, which included Zach Hill, Mike Vlah, and Asher Sells running to a time of 3:31.02. He finished a great all-around day with a fourth-place finish in the long jump (20'10.75”) and extended his career All-Conference total to 13 honors.

Bobby Over emerged out a congested 5,000-meter final on Friday with his first league title and pieced together another strong effort in the 3,000m on Saturday. Denison All-American Makorodondo Salukombo made up for a second-place finish in the mile to pull away from Over late in a race that featured on the meet's deepest fields. Salukombo knocked Allegheny's Ryan Place from the league records books after splitting 8:33.45 while Over finished second for the Gators in 8:39.63. Although they finished outside of the scoring, Kevin Edwards (8:59.73) and Patrick McLaughlin (9:00.31) battled hard as well.

Michael Petro

The 3k wasn't the only event on Saturday to eliminate a former Gator from the top of the league's all-time charts. Tony Dipre's 2010 record in the mile fell as Wabash's Kevin McCarthy blasted away from the pack en route to a time of 4:10.46. Junior Mike Vlah established an indoor PR with a clip of 4:20.76 to finish eighth in the race.

Other notable performances came from rookie Nathan Taggart, who finished sixth in the high jump (5'10.75”) and freshman Michael Petro, who finished ninth overall in the weight behind a huge personal best (41'1.5”).