By: Tami Groff, sports information assistant
DELAWARE, Ohio - The Bluffton University Track and Field team traveled to Ohio Wesleyan University to compete in the Valentine's Open on Friday, Feb. 14. This meet was a tune-up for both squads since the HCAC championships are next on the docket.
In the 60-meter hurdles, junior Remi Bower (Deshler/Patrick Henry) competed for the first time collegiately and she qualified for conference with a time of 10.52 seconds. It was quite impressive with very little practice. Bower is 14th amongst all HCAC competitors. The 60-meter dash brought numerous personal bests. Freshman Madalynn Schifer (Bucyrus), Stacey Chirewa (Harare, Zimbabwe/Chisipite) and Nina McGinn (Marion/Harding) all ran personal bests. Junior Omar Warlick (East Pointe, MI/Clintondale) ran a personal best and qualified for conference with a time of 7.26 seconds. He is tied for 6th place amongst all conference competitors. Warlick also ran a personal best and conference qualifier in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.32 seconds. This puts him 3rd amongst HCAC competitors. Junior Christian Parker (Urbana/West Liberty) also ran a personal best of 7.42 seconds.
Moving to the women's high jump, freshman Taijah Lewis (East Pointe, MI/Clintondale) qualified for the conference meet and jumped a personal best with a height of 1.5 meters. That leap has her 7th amongst all conference competitors. Freshman Noelle Nuttle (Hicksville) put the work in and it showed with her pole vault.
On the mid-distance and distance side, there were numerous quality performances. In the men's 800-meter race, sophomore Austin Hernandez (Marion/Ridgedale) tied his personal best of 2:11. Senior Arie Cox (Ontario) ran a season best in the mile while freshman Max Chandler (Liberty Township/Lakota East) ran a personal best with a time of 4:49. Running the mile for the first time, freshman Morgan Adams (Dublin/Coffman) finished just under five minutes with a time of 4:59. Freshman Britton Boyle (Middletown/Madison) also ran a personal best of 9:25 in the 3000-meter race, taking nine seconds off his previous record. "It is great to see such wonderful performances with conference next week. Our momentum has been building each week and we have one more week to keep it going to have a strong showing at conference," Coach Wells stated about the awesome performances.
After coming back from a minor setback, junior Stephanie Fox (Pickerington/Central) showed up to compete. Fox went 10.85 meters in the shot put and qualified her for the conference meet where she is currently ranked 2nd. She also came out smoking in the weight throw, qualifying for conference with a personal-best throw of 13.55 meters that is 5th amongst conference competitors. Freshman Dakotah Bunn (Millbury/Lake) also threw a personal best in the shot put. "Fox had a wonderful meet coming back. I could tell she was ready to throw when she got off that bus this afternoon. With just these two throws, she propelled herself up the conference competition list and is prepared to do very well next week," Coach Jachno added about how well Fox did coming back from her setback.
The Beavers will travel to Rose Hulman on Sunday, Feb. 23, to compete at the Heartland Conference championships. The competition will start at 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-