First Outdoor Track Meet a Success for Panther Men, Women

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – Behind event victories from senior Meghan Willeke (Lexington, Ohio) and freshman Tyler Fifer (Westerville, Ohio), Ohio Dominican's women's and men's track and field teams had a successful showing at the Amy Adams Memorial Invitational on Saturday, hosted by Muskingum University.

The meet was Ohio Dominican's first official outdoor track and field event. The women placed sixth with 23 points, while the men finished fifth with 102 points, narrowly missing out on a top-three finish as third-place Westminster (Pa.) tallied 103.5 points and fourth-place John Carroll had 102.5 points.

Willeke scored her victory in the 3000 meter run, hitting the finish line in 11:19.07, over 20 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Fifer led the men's team as he scored a win in the triple jump with a distance of 45-10.75 and followed that up with runner-up performances in both the high jump (6-02.00) and long jump (20-10.75) to tally 26 points himself.

Also scoring on the women's side was sophomore Carly Catlett (Hilliard, Ohio), who took third in the 200 meter dash (27.15), and freshman Katie Rini (Pickerington, Ohio), who placed sixth in the 400 with a time of 1:06.46. Rini had another top-10 performance in the 200, placing ninth in 28.25.

For the men's squad, sophomore Darrell Harley (Westerville, Ohio) and senior Germaine McAlpine (Canton, Ohio) went two-three in the 100 meter dash, finishing with times of 11.27 and 11.37, respectively. The freshman duo of Ashton Hall (Huber Heights, Ohio) and Dominick Smith (Dayton, Ohio) also authored a two-three performance in the 800, with Hall crossing the line in 1:56.95 and Smith finishing in 1:59.89. The Panthers also had three of the top six finishers in the 400, led by a trio of freshman in Kenny Brown (Westerville, Ohio) in third place (52.75), Brandon Anthony (Columbus, Ohio) in fourth (53.17) and Tyrique Harper in sixth (54.81).

ODU's relay squads also enjoyed top finishes, highlighted by a third-place performance by the 4x400 team. The team of Brown, Jason Williams (Powell, Ohio), Malik Tuck (Medina, Ohio) and Hall took third with a time of 3:30.15. Meanwhile, the 4x100 relay team of Abe Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio), Anthony, McAlpine and Harley placed fourth in a time of 43.58.

Individually, Tuck had a fourth place effort in the 200 (23.22), Harley completed his busy day with an eighth place showing in the 200, Mike Barber (New Franklin, Ohio) was sixth in the 5000 meter run (16:11.70), and Jordan Singleton (Alpharetta, Ga.) took fifth in the shot put (42-08.25).

The track and field teams resume competition next Saturday as several athletes will compete at the University of Cincinnati's Oliver Nikoloff Invitational and several will compete at the Yellow Jacket Collegiate Open, hosted by Cedarville.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu