Gambier, Ohio- Three Wittenberg University track & field athletes were in action over the weekend in the first scoring events of the 2019 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, the men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon, at Kenyon's College's Toan Indoor Track.
In the women's pentathlon that featured 11 total competitors, the Tigers had a pair of athletes finish third and fourth in the final standings, with freshman Stevie Plikerd earning All-NCAC honors in the third position with 2,672 total points. Sophomore Alexis Johnson finished right on her heels in fourth with a combined score of 2,638 points. Plikerd's top individual effort within the five events came in the long jump as she finished second overall with a leap of 4.85 meters, while Johnson added a pair of third-place showings in the long jump (4.81 meters) and high jump (1.49 meters). In addition to her third-place finish in the long jump, Plikerd climbed into the top-three in the final standings with a pair of fourth-place finishes in the high jump (1.46 meters) and shot put (9.70 meters). With Plikerd and Johnson both finishing in the top eight, the Tigers will enter next weekend's NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships with 11 team points already accounted for toward their overall team tally.
On the men's side, sophomore Zach Guyer finished just outside the top-eight among the 13 competitors in the heptathlon event as he placed 10th overall with 3,511 total points. Guyer's top individual effort came in the 60-meter hurdles as he finished second overall in the timed finals after stopping the clock with a time of 9.06 seconds. He also finished sixth in the high jump after clearing 1.64 meters, to go along with an eighth-place showing in the 60-meter dash (7.62 seconds) and a ninth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 5.68 meters.
In addition to the trio that competed at the NCAC Pentathlon and Heptathlon, the bulk of the team competed at Anderson University on Saturday night in the Fred Wilt Invitational; however, final results are currently unavailable for the event.
Both Tiger squads will now head to The College of Wooster this weekend, March 1-2, for the 2019 NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships.