WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Wittenberg indoor track and field teams beat the weather to put on a fine display of athleticism at the 2015 All-Ohio Division III Championships hosted by Otterbein University on Saturday.
The Tiger women posted a spectacular sixth-place finish among 19 competing teams, and the men were solid at 11th of 18. The women's finish is believed to be the Tigers' best ever in the annual All-Ohio Division III Indoor Championships.
Leading the way were the event titles for junior Brea Medlock (Galena, Ohio/Big Walnut) in the 200-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Alaina Longshore (Columbus, Ohio/Franklin Heights), sophomore Frankie Bowsher (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln), senior Jeanette Klamfoth (Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) and Medlock.
Medlock had a banner day, breaking her own school record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.82 and tacking on a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash at 1:00.09. In addition to running with the winning 4x400 relay, which turned in a time of 4:06.39, Medlock also anchored the fourth-place 4x200-meter relay, running with Longshore, Bowsher, Klamfoth and junior Jordan Crow (North Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde).
Medlock's time in the 200 ranks 13th nationally.
The other big news in the women's All-Ohio meet was the fourth-place finish of junior Becah Delp (York, Pa./Eastern York) in the pentathlon, where she broke her own school record by scoring 3,100 points back on Sunday, Feb. 8, at the multi-event competition held at Denison University.
Finally, sophomore Erin Hord (Madison, Ohio/Madison) turned in a personal record in the 5,000-meter run, finishing with a time of 19:24.00 in eighth place.
On the men's side, junior Aaron Melsop (Westerville, Ohio/DeSales) broke his own school record in the long jump preliminaries, launching to a 7.15-meter jump before finishing second in the finals with a 7.14-meter jump. He also had an impressive finish at seventh-place in the triple jump on a mark of 12.75 meters.
Melsop's mark of 7.15 in the long jump ranks fifth nationally.
Rounding things out, senior Justin Yates (Dayton, Ohio/Bellbrook) was fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.38 seconds.
The Tigers now prepare for the North Coast Athletic Conference championships with three straight last chance/tune up events, beginning on Friday, Feb. 20 at the Buckeye Tune-Up hosted by Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
John Strawn '07