Meadville, Pa.– It was a record day for the Wittenberg Track and Field team at the 2018 NCAC Championships. After the first day of competition, both the men's and women's team finished in sixth place.
Wittenberg got out to an exciting start, as Alexis Johnson captured a school record and a fourth-place finish in the long jump, completing a leap of 5.46-meters. Johnson broke the previous school record of 5.44-meters, which was set by Nicole Canty in 1996. Anissa Dann took third-place in the hammer throw with a mark of 42.73-meters, earning her All-NCAC honors to start the weekend. Also in the hammer throw, Hannah Eley would earn fourth-place with a throw of 43.61-meters.
In Friday's running events, Samantha Mitchell earned a spot in the finals of the 100-meter dash with a fifth-place prelim time of 12.84 seconds. Alexis Gray would post the top finish in the 800-meter prelims, with a time of 2:18.84. Tiarra Avant secured her place in the final race of the 400m dash, qualifying with a time of 1:03.33. Friday decided that Wittenberg will have two representatives in the women's 100-meter hurdle finals, as Ryelee Clary took the top qualifying spot in a time of 15.12 seconds, followed by Johnson with a sixth-place finish at 16.09 seconds. Rounding out the Tiger's day on the women's side was Taylor Barnhisel who placed fifth in the 400m hurdles prelims, at 1:08.84.
Tyler Gittins started his full day of qualifying events with a top-finish in the 200-meter dash after recording a prelim heat of 22.08 seconds. Gittins would return to action in the 400-meter dash with a fourth-place finish in a time of 49.64 seconds. Gittins would add a second-place prelim finish in the 110-meter hurdles, with a time of 15.27 seconds. As the day continued, Charles Rodeheffer took fourth-place in the 10,000-meter run final with a time of 32:40.30. Wittenberg would then take the final three spots in the 400-meter hurdles as Kyle Farnbauch came in at 58.50, Garrin Bachinski 59.50 and Caleb Austin at 1:01.57. Wittenberg also had a good showing in Friday's field events, as D'Anthony Dorsey took third-place in the shot put competition with a heave of 14.17m. His third-place finish was enough to claim All-NCAC Honors for a second consecutive year. Jonathan Seay would add a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a final toss of 13.81m. Dorsey also added a fifth-place finish in the hammer throw with a distance of 47.55m.
OFF THE TRACK: "Day one was firm for our men and women. The team showed great efforts that positioned us in a good spot for today [day two]," said Head Coach Paris Hilliard.
UP NEXT: Wittenberg will return to action on Saturday for day two of the NCAC Championships from Allegheny.