Cedarville, Ohio – March 27, 2010 – Second-year head coach Keith Roberts Jr. and the Heidelberg University men’s and women’s track and field teams showcased its depth at the 2010 Cedarville University Yellow Jacket Collegiate Outdoor Open presented by the Ohio Army National Guard. Both sides secured points in both the field and track events in the program’s second outing on the outdoor season.
On the men’s side, Heidelberg took home fourth place honors, placing behind NCAA Division II foe Tiffin University, NAIA member and host Cedarville and Division III Ohio Wesleyan University. Heidelberg finished with 102 points, while TU won with 159. The men topped a handful of Division II and NAIA institutions, as well as Ohio Athletic Conference counterparts Marietta College, Capital University and Baldwin-Wallace College. Overall there were 15 teams competing on the men’s side.
For the women, 11 teams took part in the open and the Berg finished in eighth place. Taking home top honors was host Cedarville with 136.5 points followed by Marietta with 133.5. Heidelberg finished the day with 26 points.
In just her second outdoor collegiate meet freshman Marian Bevington (Celina, Ohio / Parkway) has inked her name on the list of jumpers to watch. She led the Berg in the field at the open taking home two top three finishes. Leading her list of accolades was a second place tie in the high jump. Bevington cleared 5’4.5”, and just missed the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships by half a foot. In the long jump she leaped 17’2.75 to stand in third place. Her jump was less than a foot away from inking her on the provisional list in a second event.
Adding scoring depth in the field was sophomore Aaliyah VanLeer (Cleveland Heights, Ohio /Cleveland Heights). VanLeer took home four place in the shot put with a toss of 35’6”.
On the track individually, sophomore sprinter Alexis Goodman (Tiffin, Ohio / Columbian) led the way with a sixth place finish in the 100-meter dash. Goodman crossed the finish line in 13.21.
Leading the middle distance crew was freshman Bobbi Custer (Woostack, Ohio /Triad). Custer is coming off a solid inaugural cross country campaign that has assisted her with a seventh place finish in the 1,500-meter run (5:10.30).
Sophomores Lauren Bruynis (Upper Sandusky, Ohio / Upper Sandusky), Shanice McLellan (Lima, Ohio / Lima Senior), Kristin Burns (Milford Center, Ohio / Fairbanks), and Lilly Hansberger (Norwalk, Ohio / Western Reserve) took home fifth in the 4x400-meter relay. The team crossed the finish line in 4:30.02.
Once again the men’s side showcased its depth both on the track and in the field. Beginning with the trio of senior Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria) and freshmen Nate Davis (Dayton, Ohio / Stivers) and Joshua Lynch (Dayton, Ohio / Meadowdale).
Davis and Lynch teamed up in the high jump to land in the top two spots. Coming off of a solid freshman campaign on the men’s basketball team at the Berg, Davis was competing in just his second meet of the year and took home the top spot in the high jump. He cleared 6’8 which is a provisional qualifying mark for the 2010 NCAA Championships March 26-28 hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. The mark is also just an inch shy of Heidelberg’s school record of 6’9” set by Darren Nelson in 2001. Lynch was not far off of Davis’ jump, tying for second after clearing 6’6”.
Higginbotham topped the field in long jump with a leap of 22’9.75”, while Davis backed him in fourth at 21’7.5”.
Sophomore Josh Bowmar (Marengo, Ohio / Highland) was equally impressive in the field events as well. He took home fifth place in the javelin throw with a toss of 168’5”.
Another group banning together for the Berg was sophomore Jordan Karnes (Edgerton, Ohio / Edgerton), senior Jamie Kuess (Coldwater, Ohio / Coldwater), freshman Bobby Over (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth) and senior Jacob Lemon (Oak Harbor, Ohio / Oak Harbor). The group helped win the 2009 OAC men’s cross country championship and teamed up once again to take home third, fourth, fifth and sixth place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Karnes was third in 9:46.03 followed by Kuess (9:54.33), Over (9:58.24) and Lemon (9:59.94).
Adding to the distance core’s accolades was Devin Butcher (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) and John Distler (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor). The duo was also members of the championship cross country team and took to the track today in the 5,000-meter run and the 1,000-meter run. Butcher took home fifth in the 5,000-meter (15:28.24), while Distler finished in eighth in the 1,000-meter run in a time of 4:13.09.
Heidelberg’s depth is even more evident in its sprinting unit. Taking home second place in the 4x100-meter relay in a time of 42.36 was the team of Higginbotham, senior Paris Hilliard (Lorain, Ohio / Admiral King), along with freshmen Justin Burnett (Springfield, Ohio / Northwestern) and Gibril Kamara (Westerville, Ohio / Central).
Following suit with the 4x100-meter relay team was the group of Bowmar, senior Mark Childs (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany), freshman Lance Kitchen (Urbana, Ohio / Liberty) and junior Terrence Horton (Pickerington, Ohio / Pickerington). The group teamed up to take second in the 4x400-meter relay, crossing the finish line in 3:22.90.
Individually, Childs and Horton branched out into the mid-distance races and found some success. Childs was third in the 800-meter run (1:55.89) and Horton followed in fourth (1:56.19).
In the 100-meter dash, Hilliard (11.13) and Higginbotham (11.14) finished a solid fifth and sixth, respectively. And rounding out the point scorers in the sprints was Bowmar with a fourth place in the 400-meter dash in a time of 50.79. Bowmar was backed by sophomore Shondell Thomas (Westerville, Ohio / Central) in fifth place with a time of 50.93.