FINDLAY, Ohio—Juniors Marian Bevington (Celina/Parkway) and Josh Lynch (Dayton/Meadowdale) and senior Joe Yoder (West Liberty/West Liberty-Salem) led the Heidelberg University men’s and women’s track & field teams today as they opened their respective seasons at the Oiler Open, hosted by Findlay University, in the Malcolm Athletic Center in Findlay, Ohio.
Yoder topped all Division III competitors in both the 60-meter hurdles (8.46) and 200-meter dash (51.17), placing second and fifth, respectively. Lynch competed in both the triple jump (45-0.25) and high jump (6-4.25), placing second and fifth, respectively.
Bevington took third place in the women’s long jump, posting a 17-7.00 mark to top all Division III competitors.
Junior Larry Massey (Royal Oak, Mich./Wylie E. Groves), freshman Brandon Sadler (Lorain/Clearview) and freshman Desmond Vaughn (Cortland/Lakeview) each advanced past the 60-meter dash preliminaries. Massey led in the finals, clocking 7.18 to tie for seventh place. Sadler also placed 13th (23.61) in the men’s 200-meter dash.
Senior Shondell Thomas (Westerville/South) came in third place (1:24.94) in the 600-meter dash.
Yoder, Thomas, Sadler and freshman Anthony Wheeler (Streetsboro) clocked 3:31.58 in the 4-x-400-meter relay to come in sixth place.
Freshman Austin Bentz (Tiffin/Columbian) rounded out the Berg’s top performers with a second-place showing in the long jump (21-2.00).
The Berg will enjoy a six-week layoff before next competing at the Northwest Ohio Invitational, also hosted by Findlay, on Jan. 20. The 2011-12 slate features two meets in January, followed by an intense February, in which both teams will compete in five meets over four weekends, including the 2012 OAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Capital University on Feb. 24-25.