Gabe Savage
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers split their squads over the Feb. 10 weekend, and the results at the Mike Hout Invitational at Capital University on Friday and the All-Ohio Championships at Otterbein College on Saturday were very strong. At Capital, the Tiger men placed third and the women took seventh, while at the All-Ohio, the Tiger men finished 11th and the women came in sixth.
The leader of the pack again was junior Nicole Bailey (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day), who broke a school record and earned the second NCAA Division III provisional qualifying standard of her career at the All-Ohio Invitational. After breaking the meet record and finishing in second place in the 55 meters, Bailey captured top honors in the triple jump and the long jump, shattering a 15-year-old school record with a mark of 17-09.5 in the latter. That leap was one-half inch beyond the NCAA provisional mark.
Bailey wasn't the only Tiger to excel in the challenging All-Ohio field. SophomoreKatie Shoemaker (Arcanum, Ohio/Franklin Monroe) took third place in the 400 meters, while junior Allison Walker (Columbus, Ohio/Academy) placed sixth in the shot put and fourth in the weight throw.
On the men's side, the top Wittenberg finisher in the All-Ohio was sophomore Erik Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Country Day), who took second place in the triple with a mark of 43-06.50. In addition, Larkin was seventh in the long jump - all after he took a disappointing no height in the high jump. Also scoring for the Tigers were seniorAndy Karcher (Oceola, Ohio/Bucyrus Wynford) with a fourth in the weight throw, sophomore Gabe Savage (Lewisburg, Ohio/Tri-County North) with a seventh in the mile and freshman Curt Weidner (Harrison, Ohio/Harrison) with a seventh in the 55-meter hurdles.
At Capital on Friday, the top men's finishes were supplied by freshman Allen-Michael Bills (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central) with a seventh in the 55 meters and fifth in the 200 meters, sophomore Mark King (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis)with a third in the 400 meters, junior Mike Echols (Springfield, Ohio/North) with a third in the 800 meters, freshman Adam Roberts (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) with a third in the 55 hurdles and fourth in the 300 meters and freshman Matt Guida (LaGrange, Ky./Oldham County) with a third in the shot put.
On the women's side, sophomore Katie McIlvain (East Liverpool, Ohio/East Liverpool) topped a small Tiger contingent with a third-place finish in the 5000 meters. In addition, sophomore Tara Osborne (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) hit the finish line in fifth place in the 200 meters and eighth place in the 400 meters.