DELAWARE, Ohio - The Wittenberg men's and women's track and field teams hit the midway point of the 2014 outdoor season with a head of steam after a pair of strong performances at the annual All-Ohio Championships, hosted by Ohio Wesleyan.
The Tiger men tied for 11th out of 20 teams entered with a score of 23 points. Mount Union won the event with 189.5 points, followed by the host Battling Bishops with 127.
On the women's side, Wittenberg placed 11th out of 19 teams with 24 points. Mount Union also won the women's competition, this time with 136 points, with the Battling Bishops again in the No. 2 position.
The highlight for Wittenberg as a whole was provided by junior Justin Yates (Dayton, Ohio/Bellbrook). After missing most of the indoor season with an injury, Yates continued to come on strong in the outdoor portion of the campaign, winning the 400-meter dash in a school record time of 47.9, which also tied the All-Ohio Championships record.
While Yates was Wittenberg's lone individual champion, others stood out on the warmest day of competition so far in the spring of 2014. For the men, top performances included sophomore Laike Wallace (Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington), who placed third in the 400-meter hurdles, and sophomore Justin Fisher (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll), who took seventh in the triple jump.
For the women, the day started with a strong fourth-place showing from the 4x100-meter relay quartet of freshman Aaliyah Myers (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon), freshman Frankie Bowsher (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln), sophomore Brea Medlock (Galena, Ohio/Big Walnut) and freshman Alaina Longshore (Columbus, Ohio/Franklin Heights). Medlock added a seventh in the 400-meter dash, sophomore Jordan Crow (North Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde) placed eighth in the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Becah Delp (York, Pa./Eastern York) took sixth in the long jump and senior Beverly Ochieng (Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) ended up fourth in the triple jump.
Finally, the 4x400-meter relay posted the best score for the Tigers as Myers, Bowsher, Medlock and Longshore teamed up to place second.