By: Tami Groff, sports information assistant
TIFFIN, Ohio - The Bluffton University Track and Field team traveled to Tiffin University for the Tiffin Dragon Open on Saturday, Jan. 18.
On the distance side Bluffton had another great week with impressive performances, starting off with the women's mile. The Beavers started strong and had a blazing finish. Senior Bailie Barrington (Waynesfield/Waynesfield-Goshen) finished with a 2nd place finish, improving her season best by 10 seconds with a time of 5:34. This puts her 6th amongst all Division 3 schools in Ohio. Senior Alexis Cash (Gaines, MI/Lake Fenton) also had a solid finish, placing 8th with a time of 6:01 which qualified her for the conference meet. Cash is also 10th amongst all Division III mile runners. Freshman Justine Lesniewski (Mantua/Crestwood) had a season best, taking seven seconds off her time from last week.
Barrington had another great performance in the 800-meter race. She came in 2nd with a time of 2:29 which qualified her for the HCAC meet. She is 4th amongst all Division 3 800-meter runners. "The women's mile was fun to watch. It was very tactical at the start of the race but there were definitely fireworks coming down the stretch. Our ladies raced hard. You could see the determination on their faces! I am excited to see what the next couple of weeks brings to us," Coach Wells quipped. Senior Connor Gulick (St. Louisville/Utica) had a nice race in the men's 800 meters. He finished 3rd with a time of 2:05. Freshman Britton Boyle (Middletown/Madison) improved on his time from the 3000-meter race by 23 seconds with a time of 9:55 which is a personal record. It was a good bounce back from last week for Boyle.
Freshman Caitlyn Renner (Cairo/Bath) finished with a 5th place finish in the 60 hurdles to go along with a 7th place finish in the long jump thanks to a PR of 4.76 meters. In the 200-meter dash, Senior Ciana Hostetler (Sugarcreek/Garaway) improved her time from last week. Sophomore Dalton Taynor (Troy/Miami East) also improved on his time in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.82. In the long jump competition, Renner went for a distance of 4.76 meters which placed her 7th at Tiffin. Sophomore Kayla Ferguson (Pandora/Pandora-Gilboa) improved on her height in the high jump of 1.48 meters. Ferguson and junior Remi Bower (Deshler/Patrick Henry) came in 5th and 6th in the high jump competition and both qualified for the conference meet. Sophomore Brandon James (Waynesfield/Waynesfield-Goshen) also qualified for the conference meet with a height of 1.75 meters and finished in 7th place. Senior Justin Kauffman (Smithville/Smithville) collected a 3rd place finish in the pole vault.
The throws showed growth from week one at Findlay to week two at Tiffin. They worked on technique and it showed on Saturday. In the men's shot put, three Beavers improved their distance. Freshman Michael Lindhorst (Lindsey/Woodmore), Henry Wright (Wooster) and Dakotah Bunn (Millbury/Lake) all improved on their marks substantially. The weight competition was also stellar for the Beavers, both in the men's and women's competition. Freshman Emma Payne (Hicksville) and junior Stephanie Fox (Pickerington/Central) had huge improvements in the weight throw. Senior John Jones (Cincinnat/Walnut Hills) bettered his weight throw with a mark of 15.85, which qualified him for the HCAC meet. Jones came in 7th and is currently 4th amongst all Division 3 weight throwers. Lindhorst also improved his mark of 12.55 in the weight throw. Fox, Payne, Jones and Lindhorst had PRs in the weight throw. "The throwers are finally gaining some meet confidence," Coach Jachno stated about the throwers, including our many freshman.
"This weekend we saw an early snapshot of where the team is heading. Between early season PRs, conference standards, and lifetime bests, the team is heading in the right direction. We transition into another hard week of training to continue moving on the right direction as we prepare for ONU," stated Coach Jachno as she reflected on the meet.
The Beavers will travel to Ohio Northern in Ada for the Larry Cole Invite on Friday, Jan. 24.
-BEAVERS-