WOOSTER, Ohio – The men's and women's indoor track and field teams traveled to the College of Wooster for the Fighting Scots Invitational on Saturday, and while the women finished fifth among five teams, the men made a bit of history with their first event title since 1997.
Scoring 144 points to keep second-place Baldwin Wallace University at bay, the Tigers picked up their first event win since taking the 1997 North Coast Athletic Conference indoor track and field championship title at Denison.
The Yellow Jackets placed second with 115 points, followed closely by Denison in third at 113, host Wooster in fourth at 110 and Kenyon in fifth with 106.
Freshman Aaron Melsop (Westerville, Ohio/DeSales) and freshman Justin Fisher (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) took first and second in the long jump, posting distances of 6.44 meters and 6.21 meters, respectively. Fisher also took second in the triple jump with a mark of 12.30 meters.
Rounding out the banner finishes in the field events, freshman Laike Wallace (Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington Court House) second in the high jump with a height of 1.68 meters and senior Sven Isaacson (Dalton, Ohio/Dalton) took third in the weight throw.
Wallace also found success on the track, winning the 60-meter hurdles on a time of 8.721 seconds, just edging out second-place finisher Joey Cordle of Kenyon, who crossed the line just seven thousandths of a second behind Wallace with a time of 8.728 seconds.
Wallace went on to be a part of a Tiger sweep of the medalist positions in the 400-meter dash, taking second behind sophomore Justin Yates (Dayton, Ohio/Bellbrook), who won the event on a time of 50.08. Junior Chris Frierson (Cedar Hill, Texas/DeSoto) completed the sweep in third place.
Junior Victor Banjo (Sugarland, Texas/Stephen F. Austin) ran in a fierce competition in the 60-meter dash, an event in which he took All-America honors at the 2012 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championship Meet. He went head-to-head with Baldwin Wallace's Kevin Johnson, who holds Division III's fourth-best time of the season at 6.89 seconds, just ahead of Banjo who ranks fifth in the division with a time of 6.90 seconds, established at the Capital Indoor Challenge on Saturday, Jan. 12. In today's top-five showdown, Johnson kept the national rankings in order on a time of 6.95 seconds, barely edging out Banjo at 6.98 seconds.
Undeterred, Banjo went on to capture eight more points for the Tigers with a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash, again just barely behind Johnson, in the 200-meter dash.
The day included two successful relays, led by the combination of freshman Asanka Ekanayake (Clarksburg, Mo./Clarksburg), Frierson, Wallace and Yates. They capped the victory by winning the 4x400-meter relay, the final event of the meet. Freshman Daniel Emery (Blacklick, Ohio/New Albany), Banjo, Frierson and Yates combined to take second in the 4x200-meter relay on a time of 1:32.24.
On the women's side, freshman Brea Medlock (Galena, Ohio/Big Walnut) headlined the trip with two wins, including a photo-finish victory in the 400-meter dash, breaking the tape just four thousandths of a second ahead of Baldwin Wallace's Samantha Lang in a final time of 1:01.423 seconds. She also took first in the 200-meter dash on a time of 27.02 seconds.
The combination of Medlock, freshman Jordan Crow (North Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde), senior Shawna Johnson (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont) and freshman Lauren Morabito (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) combined to post third-place finishes in both relay events, including a 4:21.90 final time in the 4x400-meter relay and a 1:50.91 mark in the 4x200-meter relay.
The Tigers next head to the Ohio Wesleyan University Open in Delaware, Ohio, on Friday, Feb. 8, followed by the All-Ohio Invitational at Otterbein University on Saturday, Feb. 9.
John Strawn '07