BEXLEY, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's track & field team edged Heidelberg University by four points (164-162) to win the Jessica Starks Open hosted by Capital University on Sunday.
In field events, the Fightin' Quakers had the top two placed in the weight throw in Nate Marcum and Joe Shuga. Marcum won the event with a heave of 52' 5 1/4" while Shuga finished second with a mark of 51' 7". Blake Jamison also turned in a top-three performance in the shot put with a hurl of 45' 3 1/4". Chas O'Connell finished third in the pole vault clearing 10' 6" while Anthony Gilmore claimed victory in the high jump with a clear of 6' 1 1/4".
Gilmore also featured in both the 4-x-200-meter and 4-x-400-meter relay squads, as did David Wahl and Tanner Creager, that earned a top-three finish. The three Quakers teamed up with Eric Reynolds to finish third (1:40.27) in the 4-x-200-meter relay event and joined forces with Cavin Walls to win the 4-x-400-meter relay, crossing the finish line in 3:44.91. Gilmore wasn't the only individual part of the Quaker relay events to place well in individual events. Wahl (1:15.20) and Walls (1:15.43) to second and third respectively in the 500-meter dash to finish less than a quarter of second from each other. Eric Reynolds turned in a time of 2:12.02 to take third place in the 800-meter run while teammate Aidan Henson won the event in 2:08.19.
In distance events, Simon Heys finished second in both the 1,000-meter run (2:35.84) and the mile run (4:23.55). Wilmington went one-two in the 3,000-meter run with Noah Tobin taking first (9:19.19) and George Rickett second (9:32.85) while Evan Whitaker rounded out the distance performers with a second-place time of 16:04.65 in the 5,000-meter run.
"I thought the team did well today, but I don't want them to be satisfied because I know that we can do better," Head Men's Track & Field Coach Ron Combs said. "It was fun to see some new names get wins today such as Anthony Gilmore, Aidan Henson Noah Tobin and Nate Marcum."
Wilmington heads to Marietta College for an event next Sunday.
