Panthers Tune Up for GLIAC Championships at Ohio State, Capital

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's track and field teams, in preparation for the GLIAC Indoor Championships, split up this weekend to compete at the Ohio State Tune-Up on Friday and the Rick Meindl Last Call at Capital on Saturday.

The OSU Tune-Up was an unscored meet, while the men's team finished fifth out of 13 teams at Capital with 52 points and the women placed eighth out of 13 with 27 points.

At Ohio State, sophomore Darrell Harley (Columbus, Ohio) finished seventh in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.18, while freshman Kenny Brown (Westerville, Ohio) also placed seventh in the 400 with a time of 51.10. Freshman Malik Tuck (Medina, Ohio) also had a seventh-place showing with his mark of 23.12 in the 200. Freshman Tyler Fifer (Westerville, Ohio) had a fourth-place effort in the triple jump (44-03.50) to round out the top finishers for the men.

The women were led by senior Meghan Willeke (Lexington, Ohio), who placed 13th in the mile run with a time of 5:29.25, and freshman Tara Walker (Lewis Center, Ohio), who took 15th in 5:30.52.

Willeke had a strong showing at Capital as well, taking second in the 800 meter run with her time of 2:30.10, while Walker finished third in the 5000 meter run in 19:23.87. Freshman Charde Gaiter (Westerville, Ohio) had a pair of top-10 finishes in the weight throw (38-02.00) and shot put (30-08.50), and the 4x400 meter relay team of freshman Rachel Collins (Dayton, Ohio), sophomore Carly Catlett (Hilliard, Ohio), Walker and Willeke took fourth in 4:26.24.

Collins scored a sixth-place finish in the 800 (2:33.17), Catlett finished seventh in the 400 (1:05.66) and freshman Katie Rini (Pickerington, Ohio) rounded out the point scorers with an eighth-place effort in the 200 (28.83).

On the men's side, freshman Ashton Hall (Huber Heights, Ohio) led a trio of Panthers in the top-seven in the 800 meter run as he took second in 2:00.84. Classmates Jason Williams (Powell, Ohio) and Dominick Smith (Dayton, Ohio) took sixth and seventh, respectively, to also pace ODU in the event.

Freshman Michael Barber (New Franklin, Ohio) took third in the 1000 meter run (2:48.98) and sixth in the mile (4:45.05), Harley took fourth in the 60 meter dash (7.19), and freshman Aaron Johnson (Troy, Ohio) took sixth in the 60 meter hurdles (8.87).

The 4x400 relay team of Brown, Harley, freshman Abe Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Tuck finished in 1:38.95 to place third, while Brown had an eighth-place effort in the 200 (23.35). Fifer closed ODU's scoring with a fourth-place finish in the high jump (6-01.50).

Both teams will compete for the first time at the GLIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Findlay, this Friday and Saturday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu