Indoor track team making great strides
By Tony VaskoFebruary 6, 2000
Running in a half foot of snow, in sub-freezing temperatures and training in facilities that are not quite what their sport had in mind is what ten Bluffton College students are doing this winter. These are just a few of the hurdles that are being cleared by the members of Bluffton indoor track team.
Coach Mark Bluman's squad practices in Burky gym and then they practice once a week at Ohio Northern's indoor track. Despite the lack of their own indoor track, this year's team is competing well.
"Everyone is steadily improving despite our lack of practicing facilities," said Coach Bluman. "And Remember these names: Lauren Bistline, Dawn Daniels, Katie Gwirtz, Aaron High, Ben Noll, Jen Oyer, Rashawn Ruffin, Cory Schoenherr, Kristen Stager, and Kristie Wiltsie. These are the athletes who are out their training in adverse conditions. These are the athletes who are improving. These are the athletes who you will hear about all outdoor season."
Coach Bluman said, "I can't say enough about the efforts of junior men's 55 meter high hurderler Aaron High and freshman long-jumper Kristie Wiltsie. We simply don't have anywhere they can practice their events. How successful could a basketball team be if their only chance to shoot was in the game? But yet High and Wiltsie continue to improve each week."
The team has competed in meets at Ohio Northern, BGSU, and Findlay. They have meets remaining at Findlay and Northern. In their most recent meet on February 4 at Northern they had many good performances.
In the women's 500-meter sophomore Bernadette (Ben) Noll ran 1:38.93 which was good enough to finish sixth. Freshman Kristen Stager finished ninth in the 800 meter with a time 2:41.94 and freshman Kristie Wiltsie finished eleventh in the long jump with a jump of 3.65 meters.
On the men's side freshman Cory Schoenherr finished fifth in the 800 meter with a time 2:06.99 and he finished tenth with a time of 4:24 .62. In the 55-meter high hurdles junior Aaron High finished ninth with a time of 8.76.
The team might not be big, but they are steadily improving each week and come spring they will do very well in their meets because of their hard work in the winter.
