DANVILLE, KY - Without five of their top athletes fully competing, the Wilmington College men's track & field team finished fourth of 12 teams in the Centre Twilight Meet at Centre College.
"I thought the Centre meet was a good tune-up for the men," said Wilmington head coach Ron Combs. "Finishing fourth without of our top guys was a good confidence boost for us."
Sophomore Antone Truss (Yellow Springs, OH/Yellow Springs) won the high jump as the Fightin' Quakers recorded 10 top-5 finishes. Truss jumped 6-04 to claim the event, and also finished fourth in the javelin (43.20).
Wilmington continued to pick up points in field event freshman Dylan VanLandingham (Union, KY/Cooper) recorded eighth-place finishes in the long jump (19-11.00) and the triple jump (39-01.25). Sophomore Joel Dye (Marysville, OH/Marysville) was third in the pole vault (12-11), Linden Ayoki (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) was fourth in the shot put (43-04.25) and junior Tyler Carter (Grafton, OH/Midview) was fifth in the hammer (135-07).
Junior Jake Sydnor (Owensville, OH/Clermont Northeastern) placed fourth in the 200 (22.49) and joined junior Derek Kilgo (Charlotte, NC/North Royalton), sophomore Jeremy Duncan (Cincinnati, OH/Archbishop) and freshman Chase Manica (Shelbyville, KY/Shelby County) to finish second in the 4x100 relay (42.76).
Kilgo added a fifth place finish in the 100 (11:23). Senior Brad Kline (Circleville, OH/Circleville) finished second in the 5000 (15:48.34), and sophomore Dominic King (Bettsville, OH/Bettsville) was seventh in the 5000 (16:21.70).
Junior Scott Blubaugh (Circleville, OH/Logan Elm) rounded out the scoring with a fourth place finish in the steeplechase (10:54.01).
Senior Alek Erwin (Springfield, OH/Northeastern) set a new school record in the 1,500 as selected athletes competed at the Jesse Owens Invitational at The Ohio State University.
"I thought Alek ran a great race in the 1500 to break the school record," said Combs. "He has only ran that race twice this season, so I think we will see him lower that record again in the next few weeks. The group that went to the Jesse Owens Invitational got a chance to run against some of the best competition in the country and see how they stacked up."
Senior Christian Patterson (Cincinnati, OH/Norwood) was third in the high jump (6-09), junior Jake Simpkins (Germantown, OH/Valley View) ran 1:55.32 in the 800, and Sydnor was 49;89 in the 400.
Duncan competed placed 12th in the 100 (10.84) and competed in the 200 (22.18).
Wilmington returns to the track Friday to compete in the Ohio Athletic Conference outdoor championship.