By Anna Dunlavey

The season is still young, but Ladies track and field is already making an impact in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). After a fourth-place finish at the NCAC Quad Meet in Wooster, Ohio on Jan. 24, sprinter Jonah Edwards ’18 was tabbed as the one of the conference’s athletes of the week.

Edwards may be new to running at the collegiate level, but she’s not going to start slow. In fact, she’s one of the team’s — and the conference’s — fastest runners. In only a few weeks as a Kenyon Lady, Edwards has come within milliseconds of breaking school records in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, both set by Sierra DeLeon ’14 only last season. Edwards’ best times in the two races, respectively, are 7.96 and 26.46. DeLeon’s records are 7.86 and 25.67.

Head Coach Duane Gomez emphasized the significance of Edwards’ achievement. “Few and far between get those [awards],” Gomez said. “It’s really hard to get, because there are so many people out there running, and for a first-year athlete to jump out there and get it; … it’s pretty exciting.”

Edwards similarly described earning the honor as “really exciting.” She didn’t know she was athlete of the week until the team’s weekly meeting on Monday, at which point the entire team cheered for her. “It’s nice having this fresh start to our whole season,” she said.

Although she’s only been on the team for a few weeks, she feels right at home. “At first I was a little nervous about it, because it was my first year here, but we’ve grown into a family already,” Edwards said. “During all of our events, people will be surrounding the track cheering for you. … You can hear everyone on your team, even the coaches, screaming your name before you run [and] during your entire race.”

  Edwards won both the 60-meter and 200-meter races on Saturday, and earned 18 of the Ladies’ 79 total points. The home Wooster team finished with 110 points, Allegheny College took 118 points and Ohio Wesleyan University won the meet with 199 points. 

It was an exciting week for Edwards, but she wasn’t the only first year to make her mark on Kenyon. Funmilayo Lawal ’18 now holds the school record in the weight throw. Lawal threw 9.46 meters for 12th place and four points in her first-ever weight-throw competition.

Subei Kyle ’17, current record holder in the 400-meter dash, ran the 200-meter dash alongside Edwards and placed seventh with a time of 28.62. Claire HarnEnz ’17 represented Kenyon this time in the 400-meter, and finished the race in second place with a personal best time of 1:04.43. Devron Martin ’18 claimed fourth place in the high jump after clearing a height of 1.45 meters.

The Ladies’ distance medley relay team of Kyle, Aisha Simon ’15, Samantha White ’16 and Ellen Corcoran ’18 competed for the first time this season. Simon ran the 1,200-meter first leg, Kyle ran the 400-meter second leg, White ran the 800-meter third leg and Corcoran ran the 1,600-meter final leg. The relay team finished in third place with a total time of 13:22.67. “We were tied for first for a long time,” Gomez said, noting that as the race wore on Ohio Wesleyan runners pulled ahead of the Ladies. “There’s things that we can work on to get stronger. … They’re going to be good as [the season] goes on.”

Edwards also lauded the “really strong finish” the Ladies achieved as a whole. Next weekend, the Ladies head back to the Wooster track for the Fighting Scots Invitational. They will face the same teams they did last week, as well as Denison University.