SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Ohio Dominican Panthers indoor track and field team opened the 2023-24 season with an appearance at the Wittenberg Tiger Opener on Saturday (Dec. 2).
A handful of sprints, jumps and throws student-athletes took part in the season opener at the Steemer Center.
WOMEN
Brooke Armbrust (Grove City, Ohio) kicked off her season in style with two podium finishes in the 60 and 200 meter dashes, respectively. She beat the field with a 7.66 second finals time to win the event, after a 7.73 second prelims time. Her finals time was the sixth fastest time in program history while her prelim time was eighth overall. She later edged out her previous 200 record with a third place finish and a time of 25.41 seconds.
G'nae Morrison (San Antonio, Texas) added a pair of seventh place finishes in the 60 and 200 meter dashes. She qualified for the 60 meter final with a 8.04 second time and clocked in at 8.11 seconds for the final. In the 200 meter dash, she timed out at 26.35 seconds.
Shyla Pemberton made her Panthers debut with a 14th place finish in the 200 meter dash, running a 26.99 second time. She also was the fastest Panther in the 400 meter dash, finishing 13th at 1:01.92.
Outside of Armbrust and Morrison, Ohio Dominican had two others finish in the top 20 for the 60 meter dash. Nikane Ambos (Wapakoneta, Ohio) was 16th at 8.44 seconds with freshman Nora Duperow (New Lexington, Ohio) at 8.54 seconds for 19th place.
In the 200 meters, Ohio Dominican had four runners in the 28 second bracket. Jana Griffith finished at 28.33 seconds for her debut with Kassydee Owens (Harlan, Kentucky) behind her at 28.50 seconds. Ambos had a 28.78 second time with another debut from Duperow. Duperow had a 28.91 second time, crossing the line behind Ambos.
Owens was second for the Panthers and 18th overall in the 400 meter dash with a 1:03.37 time. Griffith entered a 1:04.16 for the 24th place finish. Grace Pitt reached a new personal record for that event at 1:05.32 in 27th place. Ambos and Duperow finished at 1:06.85 and 1:08.57, respectively.
Marie Pascaline Ndayshimye set personal bests in the shot put and weight throw on Saturday. She was 14th in the shot put with a 10.27 meter throw and 27th in the weight throw at 7.79 meters.
MEN
Eugene Boahen paced the Panthers in the 100 and 200 meter dashes as he finished in fourth place for both events. He ran a pair of identical 6.96 second races in the 100 meter and followed it up with a 22.29 second time in the 200.
Ten different Panthers participated in the 60 meter dash prelims with a trio of debuts. With Boahen finishing fourth in the final, freshman Cole Miller and Tyler Wallace finished with the same time of 7.12 seconds for 14th and 15th place, respectively. Ismael Obas (Columbus, Ohio) was .02 behind the pair in 16th place at 7.14 seconds (a PR). Aly Diaby was at 7.16 seconds in 20th place. Benjamin Seely (Chesterton, Indiana) and Isaac Eugene both registered personal bests in the event at 7.21 seconds and 7.26 seconds, respectively in 25th and 31st place. Blake Wilson tallied a 7.46 second time with another PR from Owen Wilhelm (Sunbury, Ohio) at 7.52 seconds. Manny Codjoe (Bolingbrook, Illinois) rounded out the event at 7.63 seconds.
Diaby was tenth place in the 200 meter dash and jumped into 6th place on the all-time honor roll with a 22.65 second time - a new PR. Miller followed with a PR of his own at 22.95 seconds in 19th place. The new personal bests continued with Obas (23.21 seconds), Seely (23.24 seconds), Wallace (23.59 seconds) and Wilhelm (23.95 seconds) all getting new marks. Wilson finished at 24.27 seconds.
During the 400 meters, Diaby was the fastest runner in Black and Gold at 50.72 seconds, an eighth place finish. Eugene was 18th at 52.07 seconds in his first attempt at 400 meters. Wilson was 33rd at a time of 53.67 seconds.
Wilhelm topped out at fourth place in high jump with a best try of 1.88 meters.
Henry Pierce set a weight throw PR of 10.08 meters and had a best throw of 9.92 meters for the shot put. Mustafa Al-Saibawi made his shot put and weight throw debut wuith a 12.04 meter best weight throw for 19th place overall.
UP NEXT
The Panthers will rest up for the Holiday break with a return to action on January 20th, 2024 at Ashland.
