Records Fall As Tigers Compete Well At OWU, Otterbein
Justin Yates was a part of two record-breaking runs at the All-Ohio Championships to highlight busy weekend.
DELAWARE/WESTERVILLE, Ohio – It was a busy weekend for the Wittenberg men’s and women’s track and field teams, but it was a productive 24 hours as well.
The Tigers competed in the non-scoring OWU Open at Ohio Wesleyan on Friday, and then some of the team’s top student-athletes measured themselves against the best competition in the state at the All-Ohio Indoor Championships at Otterbein on Saturday. The Tiger women placed 16th in the 18-team field, while the Tiger men finished 10th.
More important than the team point totals, there were numerous individual highlights. Most notable were a pair of school records achieved at the All-Ohio Indoor.
Sophomore Justin Yates (Dayton, Ohio/Bellbrook) posted a program-best mark of 49.68 in the 400 meters to take second place against an outstanding field. His time is the 11th best in all of NCAA Division III midway through the 2013 indoor campaign.
A short time later, another school record fell as the quartet of junior Chris Frierson (Cedar Hill, Texas/DeSoto), freshman Asanka Ekanayake (Clarksburg, Mo./Clarksburg), freshman Laike Wallace (Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington Court House) and Yates turned the trick in the 4x400 meter relay. En route to a first-place finish, the four sprinters crossed the finish line in a program-best time of 3:24.66, which ranks 29th nationally.
In addition, sophomore Adam Kapuscinski (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) claimed fourth place in the 800 meters.
On the women’s side, freshman Brea Medlock (Galena, Ohio/Big Walnut) continued to enjoy success, placing eighth in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the 400-meter dash. She also scored points with a seventh-place finish in the 4x200-meter relay, where she was joined by senior Shawna Johnson (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont), freshman Jordan Crow (North Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde) and junior Vanessa Ladd (Columbus, Ohio/Marion Franklin).
On Friday, the top individual finishes for the men was supplied by junior Wade Westbrook (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) in the mile run and junior Sean Redfield (Fredonia, NY/Fredonia) took third in the 3,000-meter run. For the women, freshman Becah Delp (York, Pa./Eastern York) hit the tape in second place in the 200-meter dash, junior Ashley Milliner (Beachwood, Ohio/Beachwood) took third in the 60-meter dash, freshman Megan Bittinger (Cincinnati, Ohio/Cincinnati Christian) won the 400-meter dash and junior Shannon Kelleher (Hilliard, Ohio/Darby) picked up a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run. Also of note, Delp and junior Angela Roll (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) tied for first place in the high jump, Delp took second in the triple jump and junior Cara Vendeville (Perry, Ohio/Perry) was the top finisher in the long jump.