BEXLEY – The Wilmington College men’s track and field team claimed its first team victory of the 2019-20 indoor season by winning the Rick Meindl Invitational at Capital University Friday evening.
Wilmington finished with 189 points as a team, clearing second-place Capital University by 85 points. In the final indoor tune-up before the 2020 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Fightin’ Quakers also beat Marietta College and Muskingum University.
In throwing events, Joe Shuga won the weight throw with a heave of 46-8.75 while also finishing second (44-3.5) to teammate Blake Jamison’s winning mark of 46-5.25 in the shot put.
In jumps, Anthony Gilmore finished second (but still scored 10 points due to an unattached individual finishing first) in the high jump with leap of 6-2.75. Teammate Jeff Clydesdale finished right behind Gilmore with a mark of 6-0.75. Max Queen closed out the Quakers’ performances with a 10-point, runner-up finish in the long jump at 21-5.25.
In sprint events, Aaron Koch’s mark of 23.67 seconds in the 200-meter dash placed him third. Additionally, Josh Cyrus, with his time of 2:04.54, finished just over four-tenths of a second behind Lane Wilson of Marietta College in the 800-meter run.
In distance events, Taton Bertsch won the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:38.65 while George Rickett earned his first OAC championships qualifying time of 16:03.50 to win the 5,000-meter run.
In the mile run, Simon Heys and Evan Whitaker scored the team 18 points with times of 4:30.42 and 4:35.49 respectively.
Wilmington relays had a banner evening taking all three competitions. Koch, Queen, Gilmore and Adam Knaub won the 4×200-meter relay with a time of 1:36.00 while Koch, Knaub and Gilmore teamed up with Clydesdale to cross the finish line in 3:41.49 to win the 4×400-meter relay.
Finally, Whitaker, Heys, Bertsch and Cyrus beat the field by over 10 seconds by finishing the 4×800-meter relay in 8:31.08.
The Quakers head to Marietta for the OAC Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday.
