Sports > February 28, 2008

By Matt Six | Staff writer

Senior Kevin Marion, sophomore Caroline Vaughn and sophomore Thomas Sensing led the Demon Deacons track and field squad at the Virginia Tech Challenge Feb. 22-23. The Challenge marked the third time Wake has traveled to Blacksburg for a track meet.

The field events were held on Feb. 22 and Wake participated in the men’s and women’s long jump.

Marion and senior Kerry Major represented the Deacs in the long jump. Marion posted an impressive distance of 7m, finishing tied for 12th place out of 52 participants.

Major posted a mark of 6.85m, finishing 21st.

For the women’s long jump Vaughn finished in 27th place with a distance of 5.22m.

The field events on Feb. 23 for the Deacs included men’s and women’s shot put, women’s pole vault, men’s triple jump and men’s unseeded pole vault.

Sensing shined in the shot put event for the Deacons.

He posted a personal best 15.21m in the event, finishing third in his flight and 11th overall out of 34 participants.

“Everything just clicked on the throw,” Sensing said.

“I finally activated the technique taught by our coach, Scott Hall. My teammates were supportive and the competition with the other throwers was good.”

Junior Boomer Peterson fared well with a throw of 14.29m, good for 16th overall.

For women’s shot put, senior Molly Kennedy threw for 11.67m.

Senior Jill Ahrens represented the Deacs in the women’s pole vault. She posted an impressive 3.55m, tying for the fifth highest of the day.

She cleared the 3.15m and 3.35m marks, leading up to her clearing the 3.55m mark.

The Deacons sent junior Javin Hutchinson to participate in the men’s triple jump.

This event is similar to the long jump; however, participants must jump from a farther distance away and hop their way into the sand pit, jumping three times off one leg.

Hutchinson finished in 16th place with a distance of 14.11m.

Senior Taylor Wildman did not clear the 4.30m prerequisite in the men’s unseeded pole vault.

The track events were highlighted with Wake Forest victories Feb. 23 in the women’s distance medley and in the women’s 800m run by junior Nicole Schappert.

Wake fielded two women’s medley teams and they finished first and second with times of 11:44.47 and 12:06.65, respectively.

Schappert ran an impressive 2:11.17 in winning the 800m run.

Marion, Major and Wildman competed in the men’s 60m dash.

Marion and Major both won their preliminaries with times of 6.83 and 6.88, respectively.

Only the top eight participants compete in the 60m dash finals, and Major missed the finals by a mere .02 seconds.

Marion competed in the finals and finished fourth with a time of 6.78 seconds.

Vaughn finished third in women’s 60m hurdles, posting a time of 8.64 and qualifying for the finals.

Senior Michelle Loyd and Kennedy finished back-to-back at 15th and 16th with times of 9.03 and 9.09, respectively.

In the finals, Vaughn ended up in fourth place with a time of 8.62 seconds.

“Our team is really excited for the ACC Championships,” Vaughn said.

“The ACC has some of the best hurdlers in the nation. I am excited about competing against them and I am also excited about our 4x400 team.”

This was their final regular season indoor meet before going to UNC-Chapel Hill, to compete in the ACC Championships.