Eagles Earn Six First Place Votes, Maroons Garner Three

FOREST, Va. --- Bridgewater College collected 61 total points from the league’s head coaches, including six first place votes to lead the 2014-15 ODAC Women’s Indoor Track Coaches Poll.  Roanoke College received the remaining three top nods towards 59 tallies.  Washington and Lee University capped the top-three with 50 points.

Bridgewater won four events on the way to its first ODAC women’s indoor track title at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in 2014.  Just one record was set during the day-long affair.  That went to Virginia Wesleyan College sprinter Shakira Mills, who posted a time of 7.90-seconds in the 60-meter dash prelims.  Roanoke’s Jessica Mejia earned Athlete of the Meet accolades after placing first in two individual events and one relay.

Full Results from the 2014 ODAC Indoor Track Championships

Six athletes qualified for competition at the NCAA Division III Championships.  Washington and Lee’s Dana Lee capped her first season with a ninth place showing in the long jump with a leap of 5.41 meters.  Roanoke’s 4x400-meter relay team of Brynn MacDougall, Mejia, Alexis Janney and Alease Kinney finished 11th overall in 3:56.25.  Shenandoah University multi-athlete Jaclyn Mohlmann placed 14th in the pentathlon with 3,188 points.

Bridgewater and reigning ODAC Coach of the Year Shane Stevens boast depth and star power in nearly all disciplines, driven by athletes who notched 13 top-five performances at last season's conference championships.  Kristen Trice won both the high jump (1.63m) and triple jump (11.06m) in addition to placing fourth in the long jump (5.07m).  Kaylee Kubisiak, the reigning two-time ODAC cross country individual champion, stopped the watches first in the 3000-meter run (10:21.26) and placed second in the 5000-meter event (18:48.12).  Zanny Ludtke placed fourth (19:07.05) in the latter race.  Elizabeth Stump did the same (2:22.48) in the 800-meter run, while Lauren Johnson took third in the mile (5:34.77).  Eagles occupied three of the top-six places in the pole vault, led by Erin Parker in third (3.06m).  KeriAnne Gallagher (2.91m) and Brooke Perdue (2.76m) placed fifth and sixth.  Jordan Pitchford finished two spots behind Trice in the triple jump (10.83m), while Jessica Swenson (10.46m) and Katelyn Senger (10.42m) chimed in fourth and fifth in the shot put.

Roanoke gathered the bulk of its points in the sprints and mid-distance last season, led by victories by Mejia in the 200-meter (26.45) and 400-meter (1:00.05) dashes.  Mejia was joined by Brynn MacDougall (2nd - 1:00.09), Alexis Janney (5th - 1:02.73) and Erin McGovern (6th - 1:02.81) in the top-six in the 400-meters, while Alease Kinney (26.68) and Esther Prempeh (27.02) placed third and sixth in the 200-meters.  Kinney added a win in the 800-meter run (2:18.99) to her daily résumé, while Prempeh was second in the 60-meter dash (7.96).  McGovern took home fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.93).  Caity Ashley was strong in a pair of long races, placing second in the mile (5:12.97) and fourth in the 3000-meter run (10:36.43).  Kerri Dalton finished fifth in the 5000-meters (19:28.92).  Janney, Kinney, MacDougall and Mejia won the 4x400-meter relay (4:03.28).  They set the ODAC overall record (3:56.25) during the regular season.

Washington and Lee is bolstered by the return of Lee, the 2014 ODAC Women's Track Athlete of the Year and Indoor Rookie of the Year.  She posted a quartet of top-five marks, narrowly missing wins in a pair of events.  She finished second in the 200-meters (26.51) and long jump (5.35m), the latter an event in which she set the ODAC overall record (5.63m) during the regular season.  She went on to place fourth in the 60-meters (8.09) and fifth in the triple jump (10.36m).  Elizabeth Stanton (3.46m) and Jillian Katterhagen (3.16m) went 1-2 in the pole vault, respectively, with Katterhagen adding a third place effort in the 60-meter hurdles (9.62) and a sixth place showing in the long jump (4.96m).  Janey Fugate placed fourth in the 400-meters (1:02.01), while Casey Mackintosh chimed in sixth in the 5000-meters (19:39.48).

Lynchburg will look to standout sprinter and jumper Aleshia Washington to lead the squad in 2014-15.  She won both the 60-meter dash (7.96) and long jump (5.36m), while placing fourth in the 200-meters (26.73).  Kim Alfaro was strong in the throws, winning the shot put (11.83m) and finishing second in the weight throw (15.01m).  Ashley Thomas heaved the weight 14.19 meters to place fourth.  Katie Miller also had a pair of strong showings.  She was the runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles (9.57) and placed sixth in the high jump (1.49m).

Eastern Mennonite University features a strong distance corps, especially following a strong showing in cross country.  Hannah Chappell-Dick finished second in the 800-meter run (2:20.85) and is joined by Hannah Patterson as the returning half of EMU's winning distance medley relay squad (13:17.17).  This unit is further bolstered by Lanae Kreider, who finished eighth (19:47.55) in the 5000-meters, and freshman Kat Lehman, who stopped the watches third at the ODAC Cross Country Championships.  Alyssa Bane adds a presence in the throws after placing sixth in the weight throw (13.38m) last season.

Virginia Wesleyan has strong competitors returning up and down the running ranks.  Mills is back after placing third in the finals of the 60-meter dash (7.97).  Shakiella Daniel did the same in the 400-meters (1:01.57).  Liz Wade had strong showings in the both the 5000-meter and 3000-meter events, placing third (18:53.54) and fifth (11:01.02), respectively.  Lex Higbee added a fourth place effort in the mile (5:41.42).  Daniel and Hughes return from last season's second-place 4x400-meter relay team (4:12.08).

Shenandoah University benefits from the return of Mohlmann, who posted a trio of top-five finishes last year.  She placed second in the high jump (1.54m), while adding a fourth-place effort in the 60-meter hurdles (9.68) and a fifth place showing in the long jump (4.99m).  Mohlmann is joined by Emily Cobb and Nicole Legare as three-fourths of last season's third-place distance medley squad (13:20.75).

Randolph College and Guilford College will both be looking to newcomers to make an impact in 2014-15.  The WildCats open their second season of track competition with a talented first-year class ready to compete.  Janea Jackson is the top returning scorer from last year's championship meet after placing eighth in the shot put (9.51m).  For the Quakers, Rebecca Reyna looks to improve upon her team-best seventh-place effort in the mile (5:46.02) after strong campaign in cross country.

For more information on ODAC track & field, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.  Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter.

2014-15 ODAC WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK COACHES POLL
(#) Denotes first place votes