WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Simon Heys broke the Wilmington College men's track & field program record in the outdoor 5,000-meter run at the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Elite Meet hosted by Otterbein University on Saturday.
Heys ran a time of 14:35.93, which is currently the seventh-best time in NCAA Division III this season. Unfortunately, three of the times ahead of Heys happened in the same race as the Wilmington High School alumnus took fourth. Other distance finishes that scored the Fightin' Quakers points included Noah Tobin's sixth-place finish (32:17.93) in the 10,000-meter run and the Wilmington due of Evan Whitaker (9:44.43) and George Rickett (9:57.17) who finished fourth and seventh respectively in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Aidan Henson also scored Wilmington points in two events: one individual and one relay. The East Clinton alumnus finished fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.66. Henson also teamed up with Whitaker, Eric Reynolds and Cameron Combs to cross the finish line in third (8:38.09) in the 4-x-800-meter run.
The Quakers had a busy day in field events. Max Queen got Wilmington points in two jumping events. The sophomore leaped 12.53 meters in the triple jump to take third and jumped 6.36 meters in the long jump for a sixth-place finish.
In throws, a trio of Wilmington individuals led by Nate Marcum's win placed in the hammer throw. Marcum 's heave of 52.78 meters won the event while teammate Joe Shuga took second (51.94 meters) and Andrew Pacifico placed fourth (49.51 meters). Shuga and Marcum also threw the discus, placing fifth (42.40 meter) and seventh (38.79 meters) respectively while Blake Jamison's heave of 42.65 placed him fourth in the event. Jamison and Shuga also threw in the shot put, taking second (14.56 meters) and third (13.84 meters) respectively.
Chas O'Connell and Sam Eastes rounded out the Quakers' day in the javelin as O'Connell threw 45.32 meters and Eastes 41.52 meters to place fourth and eighth respectively.
As a team, Wilmington finished fifth with 89 points, at least 50 points clear of the bottom half of the conference. The University of Mount Union won the meet with 226 points.
The Quakers head to Tiffin and Heidelberg University next weekend.
