Tigers Put Together A Strong Performance At NCAC Indoor Relays

---

Matt Locke

The Wittenberg University men's and women's track and field teams put together a strong performance at the annual North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Relays, hosted by Wabash College last Saturday. The Tiger men finished fourth, while the women came in fifth - but just eight points out of third.

There were several individual highlights worth noting, starting on the men's side where senior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) posted a winning time of 7.70 in the 55-meter hurdles, good for an NCAA Division III Provisional qualifying standard. He teamed with sophomore Matt Locke (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) added a personal-best time of 7.99, which combined with Ivery's time to win the 55-meter hurdles relay in meet-record time of 15.69. The old record of 15.85 was set by Wittenberg's Dwight Carter and Aaron Manse in 1994.

Ivery and Locke were named NCAC Track and Field Athletes of the Week for their performance.

The Tigers' other men's relay title was earned in the triple jump relay courtesy of junior Joe Rumschlag (Maumee, Ohio/Toledo Christian), who turned in a season-best mark of 41 feet, 4.5 inches, and senior Tim Gaal (Amanda, Ohio/Clearcreek), who had a personal-best mark of 40-10.75 in his first triple jump competition ever.

Rumschlag and Gaal joined forces with sophomore Tom Smith (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) to place third in the long jump relay. Smith had a personal-best mark of 17-0, Rumschlag had a season-best mark of 21-6.5 and Gaal added a jump of 18-8. Sophomore Adam Stone (Bucyrus, Ohio/Bucyrus) and junior Clyde Mayer (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) were second in the shot put relay. And sophomore Jason Toman (Greenville, Ohio/Greenville), junior Chad Kresser (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay), senior Alex Yurovitsky (Richmond Heights, Ohio/Lyndhurst Brush) and Rumschlag teamed up in the 4 x 400 relay to place second.

On the women's side, two performances stood out above the crowd. In particular, the sprint medley relay quartet of junior Tina Valerius (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame), freshman Jessica McClish (Shelby, Ohio/Shelby), freshman Antonette Green (Cleveland, Ohio/Euclid) and senior Kelly Zilli (Dayton, Ohio/Kettering Alter) won in a meet and school-record time of 4:22.57.

In recognition of their outstanding performance, Valerius, McClish, Green and Zilli were awarded NCAC Track and Field Athletes of the Week.

Also of note, the 4 x 400 relay foursome of sophomore Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer), Zilli, McClish and Green took second place in a time of 4:14.24.

Next: 2/7 at DePauw, 11 a.m.