Wittenberg’s track and field team has started the season on a strong note. They opened the new year and new semester by continuing their competition via the indoor track season at the Otterbein Invitational on Jan. 17. Both the men’s and women’s teams competed and finished seventh out of 12 and fifth out of 15, respectively.
The men’s team was led by a strong showing from junior Aaron Melsop in the long jump, posting a first place 7.00 meter jump. Also claiming a top spot at the meet was the women’s 4×200 relay team. They finished the race in a blistering 1:51.66. The members of this relay team were freshman Jada Moore, sophomore Frankie Bowsher, sophomore Alaina Longshore and junior Brea Medlock.
Other Tigers that showed strong performances were junior Justin Fisher, senior Justin Yates and senior Adam Kapuscinski. Fisher took fifth in the long jump, Yates took third in the 500-meter dash and Kapuscinski took runner-up in the 800-meter dash.
There were strong showings for the women’s team to accompany the relay victory. Freshman Sara Richards, senior Jeanette Klamfoth and junior Jordan Crow contributed to the Tigers’ success. Richards posted sixth in the 400-meter dash, Klamfoth also in sixth for the 500-meters, and Crow took fourth in the 60-meter dash and fifth in the long jump. The Tigers looked to continue to improve and bring more success this past weekend, January 24, at the Denison Lid-Lifter.
Again the women’s relays led the Tigers’ track and field teams. The 4×200 relay finished at the top of the pack with a shorter time than the week before at 1:48, knocking three seconds off of their previous time. This relay consisted of Crow, Bowsher, Longshore, and Medlock. Three of these four women, Bowsher, Longshore and Medlock, were joined by Richards and finished the line first in the 4×400 relay. Their time was a lightning quick 4:07. Medlock also brought home the third place position for the 400-meter dash.
The men also had a very strong showing at the meet. Freshman Tyler Everidge made his college debut, finishing second in the high jump. Junior Daniel Mason also posted a runner-up position for the weight throw. He was pleased with the overall performance of the team
“It was a good day for a lot of people,” he said. “The coaches were pretty pleased with everybody’s performance, and next week should be even better.”
Helping the men a little more were two sophomores: Alex Owens and Cody Shutt. Owens took fifth in the pole vault, and Shutt took seventh in the 400-meter dash.
The meet was a sound meet overall and had good improvements on both the men’s and women’s sides. Fisher was happy after the meet was over:
“We fixed a lot of form and technical things with this meet so that we can continue to improve as individuals and as a team,” he said.
Wittenberg’s track and field teams take their talents to Wooster next weekend to compete in the Fighting Scots Invitational on Jan. 31.
