Findlay, Ohio – January 21, 2010 – The Heidelberg University men’s and women’s track and field team combined for 27 top-10 placers at the Northwest Ohio Invitational hosted by the University of Findlay.
The invitational was unscored and the men’s team had 13 different student-athletes that finished amongst the top-10, along with two relays. For the women, four different student-athletes, and a relay, had an impressive outing.
On the women’s side, Judy Bataille (Felicity, Ohio / Felicity-Franklin), Jazmine Shaw (Columbus, Ohio / Hamilton Township) and Marian Bevington (Celina, Ohio / Parkwy) had two top-10 finishes apiece.
Bataille started the meet off sprinting to the top spot in the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.92. She followed that performance up with another first in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 1:00.34.
Bevington took home another first place accolade for the Berg after clearing 5’2.25” in the high jump. The freshman took to the track and placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.64).
Shaw raced to ninth in the 500-meter dash in a time of 28.16, while taking 10th in the 200-meter dash (28.16).
Rounding out the top placers for the women’s team was Aaliyah VanLeer (Cleveland Heights, Ohio / Cleveland Heights) and the 4x400-meter relay team of Macy McFarland (Huron, Ohio / Huron), Alexis Goodman (Tiffin, Ohio / Columbian), Lauren Bruynis (Upper Sandusky, Ohio / Upper Sandusky) and Jessica Jones (Wauseon, Ohio / Wauseon). VanLeer was sixth in the shot put (36’9”) and the relay team raced to a fourth place finish (4:33.02).
Leading the way for the men was Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria) with a championship in the long jump. Higginbotham took home the title in a NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 23’2”. In the triple jump, Higginbotham was runner-up (42’5.50”) and on the track he finished in eighth in the 60-meter dash (7.18).
Providing depth in the field events was Josh Lynch (Dayton, Ohio / Meadowdale). Lynch stood second in the high jump (6’2.75”) and was third in the triple jump (42’0.75”).
Josh Bowmar (Marengo, Ohio / Highland) showed some versatility, taking home sixth place on the track in the 400-meter dash (52.95) and in the field, was sixth in the long jump (20’6.25”).
Finishing in second in the 400-meter dash in a time of 51.52 was Terrence Horton (Pickerington, Ohio / Pickerington), while Mark Childs (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany) was third in the 500-meter dash (1:06.40). Providing depth in the 500-meter dash was Lance Kitchen (Urbana, Ohio / Liberty) in sixth (1:07.80).
The middle distance core had a handful of top-10 placers. Sean Hancock (Lorain, Ohio / Clearview) and Shondell Thomas finished fourth (2:00.40) and seventh (2:03.20), respectively in the 800-meter run. In the mile, Devin Butcher (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) finished in seventh in a time of 4:32.20 followed by Jordan Karnes (Edgerton, Ohio / Edgerton) in 10th (4:35.09).
For the distance crew, in the 3,000-meter run, Jake Lemon (Oak Harbor, Ohio / Oak Harbor) raced to a sixth place finish in 9:01.90 and was followed by Jamie Kuess (Coldwater, Ohio / Coldwater) in ninth (9:07.70).
Rounding out the top-10 individual placers for the men was Frank Medina (Wakeman, Ohio / Western Reserve). Medina took home 10th place with a toss of 43’2.25”.
In the end, Heidelberg fielded two teams in the 4x400-meter relay and did not disappoint. The group of Horton, Kitchen, Childs and Bowmar finished in third (3:27.76), while the combination of Thomas, Hancock, Justin Burnett (Springfield, Ohio / Northwestern) and Gibril Kamara took eighth (3:61.76).