Tigers Prep For Conference Meet At Denison Big Red Invite

Brandon Cottman and the Tigers tuned up for the league championships with strong performances at the Denison Big Red Invitational. File Photo | Erin Pence
Brandon Cottman and the Tigers tuned up for the league championships with strong performances at the Denison Big Red Invitational. File Photo | Erin Pence

GRANVILLE, Ohio - The Wittenberg track and field teams continued their preparations for the 2015 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championship meet with a solid performance at the Denison Big Red Invitational.

There were no team scores at the meet, which is intended to be a tune-up for the stretch run of the season, starting with the league championships next weekend.

The individual returns were encouraging for Wittenberg. On the women's side, that included a return to form by junior Brea Medlock (Galena, Ohio/Big Walnut), who took the top spot in the 100-meter dash.

Sophomore Odunayo Shobo (Columbus, Ohio/Westland) finished fourth in the 200-meter dash, junior Megan Bittinger (Cincinnati, Ohio/Cincinnati Christian) and senior Christine Steinhaus (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Olentangy) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 800-meter run, junior Jordan Crow (North Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde) led three Tigers in the 100-meter hurdles with a second-place finish, senior Jeanette Klamfoth (Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) led three Tigers in the 400-meter hurdles with a second-place finish, and freshman Jada Moore (Columbus, Ohio/South) took second in the long jump, followed closely by Crow in third.

Rounding out the top women's finishes was sophomore Frankie Bowsher (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln), who took third in the javelin.

Turning to the men, junior Justin Fisher (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) placed second in the 100-meter dash to lead things off. Sophomore Cody Shutt (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) took the top spot in the 400-meter dash to top the Tiger finishers in the sprints.

In the distance events, sophomore Jon Osman (Troy, Ohio/Troy) paced the squad with a fourth-place finish in the 3000-meter run. Junior Laike Wallace (Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington) added a first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, and sophomore Alex Owens (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) claimed the blue ribbon in the pole vault.

Topping the Tigers in the jumps was junior Aaron Melsop (Westerville, Ohio/DeSales), who placed first in the long jump. Rounding things out in the throws was junior Daniel Mason (Springfield, Ohio/Greenon) in sixth place in the shot put and fourth in the hammer throw and freshman Frank O'Toole (Hamilton, Ohio/Ross) in fifth in the javelin.

Also of note, both the Tiger men and women took the top spot in the 4x100-meter relay.

Written By: Ryan Maurer