By: Jenia Freewalt, sports information assistant
Photos by: Zach Slone
TIFFIN, Ohio- The Beavers traveled back to Tiffin this past weekend for the Tiffin Track Carnival. This meet was set up a little differently, in that the majority of the events were hosted at Heidelberg University's track, while the throwing events were hosted at Tiffin University. In addition, the throws athletes from Bluffton went back on Saturday, making it a two-day competition!
Leaving early on Friday to go give it their all were the throwers. The throws athletes competed in the discus and hammer throw competitions and came back to Bluffton with their heads held high after some great marks were made! Junior Carter Ritchey (Delphos/Hopewell Loudon) set a new PR in the discus with a mark of 24.62 meters!
In the men's hammer, senior Michael Lindhorst (Lindsey/Woodmore) had a big throw, setting a new PR of 45.81 meters while placing 12th overall! His teammate and fellow senior Henry Wright (Wooster) also set a new PR with a throw of 39.36 meters.
The women's hammer throwers also had a lot of success for our Beavers. Senior Emma Payne (Hicksville) took 12th with a big throw of 40.63, qualifying for the Heartland Conference meet! Freshman Paige Smith (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) had a great throw, setting a PR with a throw of 28.32 meters.
On day 2 of the competition, the javelin and shot put took center stage. Wright set a new PR in the shot put with a toss of 12.66 meters. Junior Markus Finley (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) finished just shy of his PR, throwing 14.22 meters.
"Again, the throwers showed up this weekend with some great performances!" said Assistant Coach Stephanie Fox. "Every weekend makes me excited to see how they will do the next week! The weather has been great these past two weeks and their technique has continued to improve which has been reflected in their throws!"
Competing at Heidelberg on Friday, Bluffton tore up the track and earned a lot of new PR's, season bests, and top 10 placements!
In the men's high jump, sophomore Kyle Manns (Ottoville) tied his indoor PR of 1.94m, placing 8th overall!
Setting a new PR in the men's 110 meter hurdles was sophomore Ja'Ce Nutt (Miamisburg/Valley View), flying down the track for a PR of 16.47, and qualifying for conference! Junior Desmond Gist (Detroit, Mich./Trenton) flew swiftly over each hurdle and earned 3rd place overall with a time of 14.71, also meeting the qualifying time for the HCAC!
In the men's open 400 meters, freshman Darien Tolbert (Riverside/Stebbins) raced a season best of 53.59. Sophomore Jayden McConnell (Sunbury/Big Walnut) also had a great race, earning a season best with a time of 51.10.
In the women's 400, Kailea Greathouse-Kerr (Manchester, Ind.) raced a season best of 62.62, followed closely by fellow sophomore Kinsey Myers (Stryker) with a season best of 65.02.
The men's 4 x 100 squad, comprised of Dontrayell Thomas (Madera, Cal./Edison), Russell Lough (Wintersville/Indian Creek), McConnell and Gist, ran a season-best time of 42.82 and placed 6th overall!
Also racing a season-best time was the men's 4 x 400, finishing in 7th place with a time of 3:21.12 comprised of Blayden McCoy (Fresno/Ridgewood), Simon Shawk (Galion), Lough and McConnell!
Head Coach Ben Markison commented on the overall performance of the athletes by saying, "The team overall had a great meet. A lot of solid performances across the board. We're stating to taper off now, so I'm excited to see how we respond to that at ONU this coming weekend!"
This meet was a late one for the distance athletes, but there were a ton of personal records set on the day. In the women's 1500 meters, sophomore Basil Gates (Galion) tore up the track and set a new PR with a time of 5:15 which is currently ranked 7th in the HCAC! Also setting a quick new season best was junior Brooke Barnes (Ashland/Crestview), finishing the race with a time of 6:01.
In the men's 800 meters, freshman Jarrod Roudebush (Coshocton) set a speedy new PR of 2:08! Setting a season best and finishing closely behind Roudebush was senior Morgan Adams (Dublin/Coffman), finishing with a time of 2:11.
The steeplechase saw junior Ethan Ly (Celina) finish the race with a season best of 10:23 which puts him 7th in the HCAC! Sophomore Cole Kropka (New London) just missed his PR with a season best of 10:31, and he is now ranked 8th in the conference.
Racing with the sunset was sophomore Braeden Horn (Galion) who set a new PR in the men's 5k race with a time of 16:59.
Capping the meet under the stars and lights were the 10k races! With it being the last event of the day, the spectators, especially the fellow Beavers, showed their support for teammates who were competing. In the men's 10k, junior Zach Boch (Lancaster) finished a tough 25 lap race with a great new PR of 36:01!
And finally, the women's 10k race fired off at 10 p.m. Shattering her previous PR from two years ago was junior Jenia Freewalt (Delphos/St. John's) with a new PR of 43:23, besting her previous PR by 1 minute and 47 seconds. Freewalt raced an HCAC qualifying time, putting her 2nd in the conference! She finished in 9th place overall on Saturday.
"Another very solid weekend!" said Coach Connor Gulick, who works with the distance athletes. "It made for a long day with different departure times, we were being split as a squad, but we didn't use the long day as an excuse. The big thing that stood out to me was the level of support. To have as many people choosing to stay the duration of the night spoke volumes! We got a lot of compliments about that group from various teams which speaks volumes to the camraderie of this team!"
The Beavers begin to taper off in preparation for the HCAC Championships and will have their last regular season competition on April 21-22 at Ohio Northern University!
-BEAVERS-
