SPRINGFIELD — Both the Wilmington College men’s and women’s track and field teams opened the indoor season with a dozen top-three finishes Friday in the Wittenberg Tiger Open at WU’s new indoor facility The Steemer.
For the women, it was a sweep in the 3,000-meter run as Milena Wahl (10:53.38), Sydney Yontz (11:22.49) and Katie Hughes (11:59.32) finished 1-2-3.
In other distance events, Kelly Rice placed second in the mile run with a time of 6:27.44 while AJ Houseman also finished runner-up (3:46.25) in the 1,000-meter run. Yontz earned Wilmington a third-place finish in the 800-meter run, crossing the finish line in 2:32.54.
Rounding out individual track events was Emma Burke’s third-place mark of 9.54 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and Jordan Snarr’s third-place finish in the 500-meter run.
Wilmington also had two teams in the 4-x-400-meter relay race. Burke, Cheyenne Rhodes, Sidney Fields and Miranda Gibson turned in a time of 4:21.93, good for second place, while the Quaker squad of Rice, Kayci Johnson, Houseman and Faith Williams finished one spot behind.
Kayli Sullivan and Keva Cox represented Wilmington in field events as Sullivan took third in the weight throw (44-8) and Cox jumped 4-11 in the high jump to also finish third.
On the men’s side, Blake Jamison won the shot put with a heave of 45-8 while Joe Shuga placed third in the weight throw (47-0.75). Wilmington had two individuals, Jeff Clydesdale and Anthony Gilmore, that finished second and third respectively by both jumping 5-10.75 in the high jump.
In track events, Wilmington was carried by its distance individuals. Simon Heys (8:46.93) and Evan Whitaker (9:14.33) finished first and third respectively in the 3,000-meter run while Taton Bertsch (4:43.07) and Cameron Phelps (4:46.67) went one-two in the mile run.
David Wahl won the 1,000-meter run, crossing the finish line in 2:59.07 while Clydesdale added two third-place finishes – the 1,000-meter run (3:08.26) and the 500-meter run (1:12.69).
Wilmington’s distance medley relay squad of Wahl, Zach DeAtley, Evan Brandon and Patrick Bay took second.
The Quakers return to action at the Tiffin University Invitational on Jan. 18.
