Oberlin College’s track and field teams had an impressive showing in their first home meet of the season. The Dan Kinsey Invitational, named in honor of former Oberlin coach and 1924 Olympic gold medalist Dan Kinsey, pitted Oberlin against competitors from Baldwin Wallace University, Hiram College, Allegheny College, Carlow University, and Thiel College.
Feb. 7 was a day of personal bests, broken records, and conference-qualifying marks, as the Crimson and Gold returned with a full squad after Winter Term. The teams combined for 43 personal bests — 22 on the men’s team and 21 on the women’s — and 13 results were good enough to qualify Oberlin athletes for the North Coast Athletic Conference championships. Additionally, three members of the Oberlin men’s team landed on the school’s all-time top-ten list in their respective events, while one runner added their name to the women’s record books.
Fourth-year Walter Moak set the tone for the meet by shattering Oberlin’s school record in the 1,000-meter with a time of 2 minutes, 28.71 seconds, taking nearly four seconds off Quinn Hull’s, OC’14, 2011 record. The 1,000-meter is rarely offered at collegiate meets; the team that hosts each meet gets to decide what distances will be raced.
“The nice thing about having a home meet is that you can choose what distances you want to offer,” Moak said. “So we offered the 1k at our meet specifically with the purpose of going after the school record.”
After fourth-year Jonah Barber paced Moak and third-year Liam Newman through 400 meters in 58 seconds before stepping off the track, Moak powered through the middle laps and held off Newman, who finished second in 2:33.25, placing himself at #4 on Oberlin’s all-time list.
Although Moak was the fastest man of the day, he was quick to acknowledge his teammates’ efforts.
“I’m excited to see specifically [fourth-year] Danny Markey and [second-year] Will Gordon, as well as [fourth-year] Caleigh Lyons and [second-year] Char Purcell,” Moak said. “All of them dropped down in distance to race the mile at the home meet, but their best distances are [the] 3k and 5k. So I think at All-Ohio and at our second home meet this weekend, we’ll see some really determined and committed performances out of them.”
Moak and Newman weren’t the only members of the team to put their names on the top-10 list in the 1k. Fourth-year Sage Serraino finished under a half second ahead of Baldwin Wallace’s Katurah Plecko, winning the race in 3:06.14 and earning the 4th fastest time in Oberlin history. Purcell took third in 3:13.95, followed by third-year Amber Borofsky and first-year Solana Pearl. All Oberlin competitord set personal bests.
Oberlin also impressed in the mile and 800-meter. Gordon and Markey ran personal bests in the mile; 4:37.27 and 4:37.69, respectively. In the 800, Moak won his second race of the day in 1:57.90, which placed him at #8 on Oberlin’s all-time list. Third-year Treyce Wood followed in 1:58.53, and fourth-year Ezra Taub cleared the conference-qualifying standard with a time of 2:00.00. Third-year Charles Endres won the men’s 3000-meter, cracking nine minutes for the first time this season with a time of 8:54.30.
The Oberlin sprints contingent dominated in the longer sprint races. First-year Yrva Desormeaux stood out with personal bests in both the 60-meter (8.45) and 200-meter (27.32), while third-year Ryley Steggall won the women’s 200 in 27.17, a season best. Third-year Anna Fritz set a season-best and conference-qualifying mark of 9.75 in the 60-meter hurdles. Fourth-year Reese Hyatt clocked 7.63 and 23.44 in the men’s 60-meter and 200-meter, respectively, pulling out a win in the latter. Fourth-year Cole Fuller took home the 400-meter with a 51.31 finish.
“A big part of running well is being comfortable,” Steggall wrote in an email to the Review. “Being surrounded by teammates, family, and close friends is always a big motivator for me. Coach [Ben] Wach and I have been focusing on getting back into focusing on intensity during racing, and I felt like I was finally able to really achieve that.”
In the jumps, third-year Namu Makatiani leapt 6.61 meters to earn a third-place finish in the men’s long jump, a conference-qualifying mark. In the men’s triple jump, second-year Dane Mentore claimed first place with a jump of 12.77 meters, while fourth-year Luke Yates finished third with a leap of 12.03 meters on his final attempt.
Mentore credited his training regimen and the team’s culture for his performance.
“The preparation for this meet for me, personally, consisted of a lot of jumping, to put it simply — just doing as many repetitions as possible to try and find that rhythm,” Mentore said. “I am inspired by the work ethic of my coaches and teammates.”
Fourth-year Heather Benway nabbed third place in the long jump with a 4.95 meter leap. Fritz had a memorable season debut in the triple jump with a conference-qualifying mark of 10.11-meters, which places her seventh in the conference. In the throws, second-year Abraham Cromartie V improved his personal best in the shot put for the fourth consecutive meet with a 13.61-meter throw, beating the conference-qualifying mark of 13.18 meters. First-year Mary Howell improved her weight throw best by over a meter with a toss of 9.31 meters, while first-year Maddie Farbman recorded a personal best of 7.77 meters in the shot put.
The Crimson and Gold will split their squad this weekend, with select athletes traveling to Grand Valley State for the Big Meet on Feb. 14, while other team members will compete in the Crimson and Gold Invitational at home. The following day, Oberlin will send athletes to the All-Ohio Championships at Otterbein University, where the top 16 competitors from DIII universities in each event face off. With multiple school records broken, dozens of personal bests, and conference-qualifying marks across the board, Oberlin’s track and field teams are poised for a riveting end of the season.
