GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Wittenberg indoor track and field teams began the 2014 North Coast Athletic Conference with a solid first day on Friday.
In Friday's final events, which included several distance and field events, the Tigers picked up enough points to put them into seventh among nine men's teams and fifth among eight women's teams.
Those final events included the men's triple jump, in which sophomore Aaron Melsop (Westerville, Ohio/DeSales) placed third and earned All-NCAC honors on a distance of 13.45 meters. Sophomore Justin Fisher (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) also placed sixth in the event.
In the women's triple jump, senior Beverly Ochieng (Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) matched Melsop with All-NCAC honors in third place thanks to a jump of 10.61 meters.
Those events summarize the Tigers' point-scoring efforts on Friday, but the preliminaries for many other events provided additional success. The women also brought with them some points from the combined events portion, where sophomore Becah Delp (York, Pa./Eastern York) placed second and earned All-NCAC honors.
The preliminaries were highlighted by senior Victor Banjo (Sugarland, Texas/Stephen F. Austin) and his NCAC Championship and Mitchell Center record 60-meter dash time of 6.88 seconds. In the women's 60, junior Shelby Kaho (Sugar Grove, Ohio/Berne Union) qualified for the finals tomorrow with a time of 8.15 seconds to finish fifth.
Kaho broke the school record and bettered the NCAC record in the 60-meter hurdles but finished second in the preliminaries on a time of 9.08 seconds, yielding the new league record to Sierra DeLeon of Kenyon College. Freshman Olivia Stevens (Danville, Ind./Danville Community) was close behind in fifth place to advance to the finals as well.
In the men's 400-meter dash, sophomore Laike Wallace (Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington) qualified for the finals on a time of 51.06, good for fourth place. In the women's version, sophomore Brea Medlock (Galena, Ohio/Big Walnut) and freshman Alaina Longshore (Columbus, Ohio/Franklin Heights) qualified for the finals in fifth and sixth place.
Banjo was back at it in the men's 200-meter dash, finishing second on a time of 22.72. The women's race had freshman Frankie Bowsher (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) in fifth place and Brea Medlock right behind in sixth.
The championship meet continues on Saturday morning, beginning with the field events at 10 a.m. and the running events at 2:30 p.m.
John Strawn '07