Tigers Put Together An Outstanding Performance At The NCAC Relays

The Wittenberg men's and women's indoor track teams put together an outstanding performance in the NCAC Relays Saturday afternoon at Denison University.

February 4, 2003

Tina Valerius

The Wittenberg men's and women's indoor track teams put together an outstanding performance in the NCAC Relays Saturday afternoon at Denison University. The Tigers finished second in the men's competition and third in the women's.

For the second straight week, Wittenberg had an NCAC Athlete of the Week on the track. This time it was the four members of the 4 x 200-meter relay team, which captured first place in a time of 1:32.81, just over one second short of the three-year-old meet record. The relay consisted of freshman Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown), senior Mark Trempe (Springfield, Ohio/St. Paris Graham), junior Demetrius Ellison (Cleveland, Ohio/Trinity) and sophomore Joe Rumschlag (Maumee, Ohio/Toledo Christian). The same four combined to win the Sprint Medley relay with a school record time of 3:44.12, bettering the eight-year-old record of 3:44.47.

In the field events, junior Joel Drake (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee), freshman Adam Stone (Bucyrus, Ohio/Bucyrus) and freshman Thomas Dillingham (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) all had personal best throws in the shot put as the three combined to finish second in the relay formatted competition. Juniors Bill Dunlap (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Tim Gaal (Amanda, Ohio/Clearcreek) each cleared 5-10 to tie for second in the high jump relay. For Gaal, a national outdoor track and field qualifier in the javelin a year ago, the mark was a personal best.

To round things out, freshman Matt Locke (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) had a personal best in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.09 and joined with sophomore Jason Toman (Greenville, Ohio/Greenville) and senior Nate Henderson (Kettering, Ohio/Dayton Carroll) to place second. And the 4 x 400-meter relay quartet of Locke, sophomore Chad Kresser (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay), Trempe and Ellison also placed second.

On the women's side, the highlight was a school record time of 4:24.21 in the sprint medley relay, which improved upon a mark established last year at the same meet. Sophomore Tina Valerius (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame), freshman Domonique Hardy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day), junior Kristen Mumper (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian) and junior Kelly Zilli (Dayton, Ohio/Alter) are the new record-holders.

The 4 x 400 relay quartet of freshman Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer), sophomore Marissa Davoll (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson), freshman Jennifer Brigham (Depew, NY/Depew) and senior Abi Gerstle (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) took third place. Also with a third-place finish was the Distance Medley foursome of Zilli, Finkelstein, freshman Tracy Butler (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) and Gerstle.

Rounding things out in the field events, third place also went to the Tiger high jump relay of senior Amanda Young (London, Ohio/London) and freshman Sarah Grabenstatter (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) and the triple jump relay of Mumper and Young.

Next: 2/8 at Anderson (Ind.)