Lords, Ladies place fifth at Wooster Invitational
WOOSTER – With first-year Paula Soric leading the way with first- and second-place finishes (triple jump and long jump), the Kenyon College women’s track and field team started its 2022 outdoor schedule with 33 team points and a fifth-place finish at the two-day College of Wooster Invitational.
The men also finished fifth, led by wins from Riley Orth (shot put) and Tapiwa Gono Phiri (200-meter dash).
On her own, Soric logged more than half of the team’s total. She did so by placing first in the triple jump and second in the long jump. Her first-place measurement in the triple jump extended 36’7’ and was worth 10 team points, while her second-place long jump covered 16’5¼” and tacked on an additional eight points. Sophomore Maya Virdell added two team points in the long jump by placing seventh with a measurement of 15’1¼”.
Virdell wasn’t done there. She went on to score four more points for the Ladies with her fifth-place showing in the 400-meter hurdles, an event she finished in 1:14.11.
The Kenyon women scored the rest of their points in two other events, the 5,000-meter run and the shot put. In the 5,000, junior Alice Riley placed fifth in 19:24.02, and senior Ella Wilson placed eighth in 19:41.60. In the shot put, it was junior Eras Yager placing sixth with a toss of 33’3 ¼” and sophomore Cat Madden placing eighth with a best throw of 28’10¼”
The Kenyon men’s track and field team finished fifth, totaling 54 points. The University of Mount Union and Case Western Reserve University shared the top spot with 174 points. The Lords collected 12 top-ten finishes, highlighted by wins from Riley Orth (shot put) and Tapiwa Gono Phiri (200-meter dash).
Dylan Brintwood finished sixth in the hammer throw with a mark of 108 feet. Following the hammer, Brintwood threw the javelin 61’10” for a 10th-place finish. In the high jump, Alex Boyd’s best clearance of 5’8¾” earned him an eighth-place finish.
Orth won the shot put with a mark of 46’05½”. Orth moved on to the discus, where he logged a second-place finish on his throw of 141 feet. Max Pollio finished tenth, with his best attempt measuring in at 87’3”. In the final field event for the Lords, Emmanuel Makelele came in fifth with his jump of 19’-7”.
On the track, Angus Soderberg took sixth in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.36. Gono Phiri finished the 100-meter dash in 11.21 to take third place. In the 200-meter dash, Gono Phiri won the race with a time of 22.59. Charles Atkins finished fifth (23.91), while Makelele finished seventh (24.16).
Lacrosse tames Tigers, 22-5, to run record to 8-1
The Kenyon College women’s lacrosse team unleashed its offense on a Wittenberg University squad that showed no signs of being able to slow down the Ladies, who coasted to a 22-5 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) victory Saturday on The Field at Benson Bowl.
The win put Kenyon’s overall record at 8-1, matching a program-best start through the first nine games of a season. Additionally, the Ladies improved to 2-0 in conference play, while the visiting Tigers slipped to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the NCAC.
The Ladies’ first goal came 1:14 into the game from Ella Murphy. That was the beginning of seven straight for Kenyon, which got two goals each from Caroline O’Neil and Tatumn Eccleston during that opening run.
Wittenberg got one back, but O’Neil scored again, guiding the Ladies to a 10-2 advantage after one quarter of play.
O’Neil led all scorers with six goals, three assists and nine points. Julia Losey, who scored twice in the opening quarter, finished the game with three goals, while Eccleston, Mallory Brophy and Maddie Garner ended up with two goals each.
Overall, a dozen Ladies scored at least one goal, and 14 tallied at least one point. Kenyon, which outshot Wittenberg 33-6 for the game, scored seven more unanswered goals in the second quarter and took a 17-2 lead into halftime. During the second half of play, the Ladies pumped the brakes a bit, scoring five more goals while emptying their bench.
Softball team trades shutouts with Capital
GAMBIER – Senior Nicole Bishay tossed a one-hit shutout April 3, leading the Kenyon College softball team to a 9-0 win against Capital University in Game 1 of the Ladies’ home-opening doubleheader. Capital then evened things out, posting a 4-0 shutout of Kenyon in game two.
Game 1 went just five innings due to the run rule. In that time, Bishay faced 16 batters and struck out four of them. She got eight batters to ground out and three to fly out. She didn’t allow a walk, and the one hit she yielded was a single.
At the conclusion of Game 1, Bishay saw her season record improve to 9-2 and her earned run average drop to 1.70. Bishay got all of the support she needed during a six-run second inning for the Ladies. During that outburst, Paige Milhon, Grace Finn, Emily Buckwalter and Bella Albrecht all had run-scoring hits.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Ladies ended things early with three more runs. Albrecht singled to lead off the inning. Two outs later, Claire McMahon singled to plate Albrecht. Milhon added another single, and then both McMahon and Milhon scored on Maddie Friday’s double drilled to center field.
After posting 11 hits in Game 1, the Ladies were held to just five hits in Game 2. Four of the five Kenyon hits were singles; the other hit was another double from Friday, who finished the day 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. Both Buckwalter and Albrecht finished the doubleheader 3-for-6 with a run and an RBI, while McMahon went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
The split moved Kenyon’s overall record to 16-8 and Capital’s to 3-13.
