LOUISVILLE, KY – Twelve athletes qualified for the Ohio Athletic Conference outdoor championships as the Wilmington College men's track & field team competed at the non-scored Bellarmine Invitational.

"It was great to finally get a competition in for the outdoor season," said Combs. "I thought both teams competed well. This will be one of the most competitive meets we go to all year.  We were one of two Division III schools at the meet.  The meet was largely D1, D2, and NAIA Scholarship schools.  The field included the NAIA National Champion in Indiana Tech. It was a great opportunity to compete against such a high level of competition"

Junior Jake Sydnor (Owensville, OH/Clermont Northeastern), junior Tyler Carter (Grafton, OH/Midview), sophomore Jeremy Duncan (Cincinnati, OH/Archbishop Moeller) and sophomore Linden Ayoki (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) all qualified in two events.

Sydnor earned the marks in the 200 (23.06) and 400 (50.04). He was the lone WC athlete to earn a top 10 finish in the Invite portion of the meet, placing ninth in the 400. Duncan finished ninth in both the 100 (10.95) and 200 (22.32) to earn his way in the OAC championships.

In the field events, Ayoki and Carter reached the marks in the shot put with distances of 13.21m and 12.95m, respectively. Ayoki added a distance of 37.39m in the discus, while Carter had a distance of 41.03m in the javelin – which was good enough for fifth. Phil Roberts placed fourth in the javelin (41.03m).

Senior Christian Patterson (Cincinnati, OH/Norwood) nearly won the high jump, placing second based on misses with the height of 2.05m. Senior Brad Kline (Circleville, OH/Circleville) was third in the 3000 steeplechase (9:57.2), while Alek Erwin (Springfield, OH/Northeastern) was his second of the 5000 (15:09.9).

The other qualifiers were Jake Simpkins (Germantown, OH/Valley View) in the 800 (1.56.42); senior Tony Goodrich (Bethel, OH/New Richmond) in the 800 (1:59.42); sophomore Antone Truss (Yellow Springs, OH/Yellow Springs) in the high jump (1.85m) and Dylan VanLandingham (Union, KY/Cooper) in the triple jump (12.33m).

Wilmington returns to the track Saturday, competing in the All-Ohio meet at Ohio Wesleyan.