March 31, 2014
DEFIANCE, Ohio - Wintery conditions on Saturday pushed back the coveted Dick Small Invitational on the campus of Defiance College to Monday afternoon, where sunshine and warmth allowed the Beavers to shine and take home the team victory on the men's side along with several personal bests all around for both genders, including a new school record.
Leading the charge for the Beavers on the men's side was multiple event winner TREY EVERETT (Sidney/Fairlawn) in the men's high jump and long jump. Everett followed up a stellar weekend at Washington and Lee with another solid performance in both jumping events, clearing 6'0" and jumping 21'0.5", as well as running a leg of the third place 4x400m relay.
Accumulating 46 of the total 107 team points was the men's throwing contingent led by EDGAR GONZALEZ (Melvindale, Mich.) and JEFF PARKER (Bristol, Ind./Northridge). Gonzalez cruised to victory in the men's shot put with a seasonal-best throw of 43'6.5". He would later come back in the discus with a personal-best throw of 124'4" to finish in second place. Junior Jeff Parker continued his successful outdoor campaign in the javelin throw with a convincing victory, besting the field of competition by more than 20 feet. Jeff also finished second in the long jump behind teammate Everett with an impressive leap of 20'5".
Elsewhere in the field events, freshman TYLER DAVIS (Sidney/Houston) took home the victory in the pole vault with an easy clearance of 12'5.5". Track-side it was a team effort from the 100m to the 1500m helping to seal the victory for the Beavers. In the short sprints, freshman JOEL JACOBSON(Franklin/Carlisle) brought home a second and third place finish in the 100m and 200m, respectively.
In the mid-distance field the freshman duo of JACK FISHER (Norwalk/St. Paul) and TY WHITE (Orrville) finished second and third, respectively, with impressive early-season times in the 800. Fisher would cross the line in 1:58.30 with White just behind him in 1:59.60. Senior MARTIN RUSS(Rocky River) took home the top finish for the Beavers in the 1500, just missing out on the first place finish in the final 50 meters of the race. Nonetheless, Russ ran a personal-best time of 4:12.97.
On the women's side, freshman TERRILL WEBB (Kenton) continued her successful freshman campaign in the pole vault, improving on her school record from last weekend at Washington and Lee. Webb would best the competition, taking home first place and re-setting the school record at 10'6". Webb looks to continue her streak of rewriting the record books next weekend at the Marv Frye Invitational on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan.
Other first place finishers on the day would come from NICHOLE PETERMAN (Killbuck/West Holmes) in the 800 and the 4x400m relay team of KAYLA MULLENHOUR (Delphos/Jefferson), HANNAH KRULL(Lewisburg/Tri-County North) and Peterman. Peterman got out to a fast start in the 800 and never looked back, finishing with a season-best time of 2:30.73. Teammate ANNA HAIRSTON (Mansfield/Ontario) finished behind Peterman in third place in the 800 with a new personal best, only to come back shortly thereafter in the 1500 and finish in second place with another PR performance (5:05.22).
Other members of the 4x400m team would contribute in individual events as well. Sophomore Hannah Krull finished second in the 400 with a personal best time. Mullenhour took home a third place finish in the 400 IH and Warnecke brought home two third place finishes in the 100m and the high jump.
After a stressful weekend of rescheduling and reorganizing, Head Coach Karen Brandt could breathe a sigh of relief after the performances her team posted on Monday, including a school record and a victory on the men's side. "We were all feeling a bit out of our element leaving campus for a meet on a weekday, however, once we reached Defiance we got focused and down to performance mode. Conditions were windier than we would have liked but definitely better than the cold and snow we would have encountered on Saturday. I was very pleased with not only the outcome but of the effort put into competing. No one just goes through the motions on our team. They go to a meet with the goal of finding the best performance they have on that day. Most meets don't give awards to event winners so they were also excited about the prospect of t-shirts; they were definitely psyched at the number we brought back to campus!"
Competition for the team resumes this Saturday, April 5, at the Marv Frye Invitational held on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University. Men's hammer starts at 11 a.m. with the remainder of the field events commencing at 1 p.m.; track events begin at 3 p.m.
-BEAVERS-