The Denison women's outdoor track and field team opened their 2010 schedule on Saturday at the Wooster Invitational.  The Big Red got strong performances by distance runners Ashley Putnam (North East, Pa./North East) and Katie Navarre (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) along with strong showings from throwers Katherine Sylvia (Butler, Pa./Butler) and Emily Taylor (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson).  Denison finished the meet in eighth place with 31 points.

In the women's 5,000 meter run, Navarre turned in Denison's top performance of the afternoon with a second-place finish and a time of 18:30.70.  The victory went to Oberlin's Clara Shaw who crossed the finish line in 18:20.88.

In the 800 meters, Putnam placed fifth overall with a time of 2:21.92.  The only D-III runner with a better time than Putnam in the race was Oberlin's Marissa Clardy who edged out the DU junior with a time of 2:21.08.

In the discus, Denison's Sylvia and Taylor placed fourth and seventh, respectively.  Sylvia logged a distance of 111'10" and Taylor followed with a throw of 103'02".  The duo also returned for a pair of top-10 finishes in the shot put.  This time Taylor finished fifth with a throw of 34'7.5" and Sylvia checked in 10th with a distance of 32'8.25".

Denison's other top-10 finish was recorded by sophomore Ashlee Dickson (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) in the pole vault.  She cleared 8'6" to place sixth out of 13 competitors.

DU will be back in action next Saturday (April 3) when they travel to Washington, Pa. for the Washington & Jefferson Invitational.