Ohio University Track and Field Wins First Home Meet
By: Micah Upshaw
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Ohio University’s track and field team celebrated its first home game by winning the Cherry Blossom Invitational on Saturday.
Bobcats pushed through the chilly weather
Despite the cold, the Bobcats came in hot, winning nine events: seven track and two field events.
Ohio Head Coach Clay Calkins said the weather can definitely have an effect on the runners.
“Typically it affects them negatively, you can’t get fully warmed up and prepped, especially for the short sprints, that’s where it affects you the most,” he said. “As long as it’s not windy, which it wasn’t today, everybody I think did a pretty solid job.”
Eleven graduating seniors contributed to the Bobcats’ victory.
Recap
The Ohio 4×100-meter relay placed first with junior Thelma Agyekum (Delaware, Ohio), senior Courtney Guiley (Louisville, Ohio), senior Mya Hodge (Dublin, Ohio) and freshman Abby Summers (Powell, Ohio) clocking a time of 54.95 seconds.
Hodge also won in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing the race at 14.95 seconds.
Senior Anna Michael took first place in the long jump reaching a jump of 5.08m. Sophomore Keilah Causey (Gahanna, Ohio), placed third in the category with a jump of 4.48m.
In team races, Bobcats finished in the top three spots in the 400-meter run, the 800-meter run and the 5K. Sophomore Marissa Handel (Highland Heights, Ohio) took first place in the 400-meter run with a time of 58.44 – less than a second behind junior Emily Deering (Geneva, Ohio) at 59.11 and freshman Melissa Barrett (Englewood, Ohio) finishing third at 1:00:40.
The first, second and third place winners in the 800-meter run were junior Josie Woosley (Pataskala, Ohio) with a time of 2:17:28, followed by senior Kaitlyn Logan (Granville, Ohio), clocking a time of 2:22:66, and sophomore Melissa Koziol (Burton, Ohio) coming in third at 2:25:09.
For the 5K, senior Shannon Kilbane (Lakewood, Ohio) took first place at 18:52:99, followed by sophomore Emily Cass (Athens, Ohio), four seconds behind with a time of 18:55:21 and senior Mary Richardson placing third with a time of 19:00:29.
The Bobcats won the 4×400-relay race with the team of senior Kaitlyn Logan (Granville, Ohio), freshman Melissa Barrett (Englewood, Ohio), senior Jennifer Fockler (Canton, Ohio), junior Rebekah Markovitz (Columbia, Maryland), clocking a time of 4:23:14.
Ohio’s track and field team will compete again at the Charlotte Invitational on April 13-14.