LEXINGTON, Kentucky – The Wilmington College men's track & field team opened its outdoor season with a third-place finish at the Pioneer Invitational hosted by Transylvania University on Friday and Saturday.
The Fightin' Quakers finished third with 82 points to finish as the second-highest scoring NCAA Division III team. Hanover College won the invitational with 94 points.
Wilmington had five performances that were good enough to qualify for the All-Ohio Outdoor meet later this season in sprints. Adam Knaub took third (11.07 seconds) in the 100-meter dash and fourth (22.62 seconds) in the 200-meter dash. Luke Richardson's mark of 11.36 seconds in the 100-meter dash along with Elliot Phillimore's 22.92 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 51.88 seconds in the 400-meter dash rounded out those performances.
In hurdles, Aaron Koch posted two All-Ohio qualifying times with a runner-up finish in the 400-meter hurdles (59.24 seconds) and a sixth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (16.65 seconds). He also was a member of both Quaker relay teams as Luke Richardson, Koch, Knaub and Colin Myers took fourth (43.45 seconds) in the 4-x-100-meter relay and Elorm Dogbey, Phillimore, Knaub and Koch placed fifth (3:29.64) in the 4-x-400-meter relay.
In distance events, Evan Whitaker won the 5,000-meter run with an All-Ohio qualifying time of 15:33.10. A trio of Quakers – Gage Clemens (34.12.12), Cameron Phelps (35.24.21) and Austin Wampler (36:33.42) – placed second, fourth and sixth respectively in the 10,000-meter run.
Five Wilmington individuals scored in field events including Joe Shuga's sixth-place finishes in the shot put (44' 1 ¼") and the discus (135' 3"). Andrew Pacifico's eighth-place mark of 134' 8" in the hammer throw is an All-Ohio qualifying mark while Richardson (21' 5 ¼") finished second in the long jump and Myers took seventh in the high jump (6' 0").
Wilmington heads to the Cedarville Invitational next Saturday.
