Panther Track Teams Notch Top-Five Finishes at Wilmington

WILIMINGTON, Ohio – Panther athletes scored four event victories as Ohio Dominican's men's track and field team took second at the Wilmington College Invitational on Saturday while the women placed fifth.

The men finished with 87 points in the meet, placing the Panthers behind host Wilmington (196). The women tallied 52 points, with Wittenberg finishing in first with 138 points.

On the men's side, freshman Aaron Johnson (Troy, Ohio) won the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.57, and classmate Tyler Fifer (Westerville, Ohio) won the triple jump with a leap of 46-11.00. Fifer's jump was both an invitational and stadium record.

The Panthers also scored a win in the 4x400 meter relay, with the squad of Kenny Brown (Westerville, Ohio), Brandon Anthony (Columbus, Ohio), Malik Tuck (Medina, Ohio) and Ashton Hall (Huber Heights, Ohio) won in a time of 3:29.99.

For the women, freshman Tara Walker took first by nearly 20 seconds in the 5000 meter run, winning in a time of 19:07.63.

Also on the women's side, senior Meghan Willeke (Lexington, Ohio) took second in the 1500 meters in 5:04.25, with Rachel Collins (Dayton, Ohio) placing sixth in 5:19.03. Freshman Charde Gaiter (Westerville, Ohio) placed second in the hammer throw with a toss of 107-03 and also took third in the shot put with a throw of 30-04.75. Freshman Katie Rini (Pickerington, Ohio) also had a pair of top five finishes, taking fourth in the 400 (1:05.55) and fifth in the 200 (28.41), while freshman Rachel Collins (Dayton, Ohio) finished fourth in the 800 (2:33.96).

The women also had a runner up performance in the 4x400 relay, with the team of Carly Catlett (Hilliard, Ohio), Rini, Willeke and Collins finishing in 4:23.40.

In addition to the event victories, ODU's men also had a bevy of top-five finishers. Trey Hammons-Scott (Huber Heights, Ohio) took second behind Johnson in the 110 hurdles in 15.97, while Tuck (11.30) and sophomore Darrell Harley (11.38) went two-three in the 100 meter dash. Tuck also took third in the 200 (22.51), with Fifer notching a pair of third place finishes in the long jump (20-10.00) and high jump (6-04.00).

Johnson rounded out the top performances with a top-four effort in the 400 hurdles in 1:03.47, and sophomore Chris Liebold (Green Springs, Ohio) took fifth in the 3000 meter steeplechase in 11:11.50.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday at the Ashland Alumni Open.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu