Story by Samantha Williams
WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's track and field team had 13 top-three finishes as the Fightin' Quakers took second place at the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Split Meet hosted by Otterbein University on Friday evening.
AJ Hightower led the team with two first-place finishes. His first win came in the 200-meter dash from a time of 23.25. He then took to the long jump where he claimed another individual title by jumping a distance of 6.40 meters. Hightower was also a part of two, third-place winning relay teams. In the 4-x-200-meter relay, he was joined by Adam Knaub, Aaron Koch, and Eric Flynn. The quartet ran in with a time of 1:35.67. Wilmington then swapped out Aaron Knaub for Pierce Burnam in the 4-x-400-meter relay where they posted a 3:44.21.
Burnam also snagged a first-place finish for the Quakers by jumping 12.57 meters in the triple jump. Burnam also placed third in the 400-meter dash (52.66).
Cameron Erwin posted a 17:37.24 to earn first in the 5000-meter run and Kalvin Butts earned first in the weight throw with a heave of 16.25 meters to round out the first-place finishes for the Quakers.
Gino Hinton was successful in the 60-meter dash, coming in second with a time of 7.18 seconds.
In the 3000-meter run, Cameron Phelps took home second-place with a time of 9.52.27. His finish was immediately followed by Gage Clemens, who finished the race in 9:59.45. Phelps and Clemens joined with Will Overholt and Elliot Philimore to form a distance medley relay. The quartet ran in with a time of 11:32.24 to earn second-place. The final second-place finish of the evening came from Brandon McCammon in the 3000-meter run (17:50.04).
Wilmington will continue their season at the Cedarville Invitational on Friday, February 2.
