Springfield, Ohio – Junior Justin Yates (Dayton, Ohio/Bellbrook) and sophomore Laike Wallace (Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington) will represent Wittenberg University in the 2014 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 22-24 at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.
This will be the first national meet appearance for either Yates or Wallace. Yates will compete in the 400-meter dash after qualifying for the meet with a time of 47.90 to rank 14th in the 20-runner field. Wallace enters the competition ranked 13th in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 53.19.
Both qualifying times for the Tiger runners were posted at Ohio Wesleyan, the site of the 2014 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championship meet. Wallace, the 2014 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) champion in the 400-meter hurdles, posted his qualifying time at Ohio Wesleyan’s Ron Althoff Invitational on May 12. Yates, the NCAC champion in the 400-meter dash, posted his qualifying time at the All-Ohio Championships on April 12.
Wallace will compete in the 400-meter hurdles preliminary race at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, May 22. If he qualifies for the finals, he would race at 4:10 p.m. Saturday, May 24. Yates will compete in the 400-meter preliminary race at 7:15 p.m. Friday, May 23. If he qualifies for the finals, he would race at 3:05 p.m. Saturday, May 24.
Live video and live results can be found on the meet home page: http://www.battlingbishops.com/sports/2013/10/29/NCAATF_2014.aspx?id=92.
Wallace and Yates are bidding to join a select group of 11 Wittenberg men’s track and field student-athletes who have earned 18 total All-America honors in an NCAA championship meet (indoor and outdoor). The most recent All-America performances came in 2012 when Victor Banjo placed fourth in the indoor 60-meter dash and seventh in the outdoor 100-meter dash.
Wittenberg has two men’s national champions in track and field in its history. Bob Cherry finished first in the 120-meter high hurdles in 1963 and Skip Ivery matched the feat in 2003 in the 110-meter high hurdles. Both were achieved in an outdoor NCAA championship meet.
Written By: Ryan Maurer