WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's track & field team heads to Berea, Ohio, and Baldwin Wallace University for the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week.
The Schedule: Competition is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday and and 11 a.m. on Friday. A complete schedule of events can be viewed at the link above.
The Teams: Wilmington will be joined by host Baldwin Wallace as well as the other eight OAC institutions - Capital University, Heidelberg University, John Carroll University, Marietta College, the University of Mount Union, Muskingum University, Ohio Northern University and Otterbein University.
The Coach: Ron Combs continues his 24th season as the head coach of Wilmington's men's and women's track and field teams. Combs has been named Coach of the Year, twice by the Heartland Athletic Conference, and once by the OAC. In 2002, he led the men's indoor team to a sixth-place finish at NCAA DIII Championships.
Who to Watch - Track Events: Simon Heys has the league's third-quickest time in both the 5,000-meter run (14:19.55) and 10,000-meter run (29:38.89) while George Rickett is seeded fifth in the steeplechase with a mark of 9:39.26. In hurdles, Dane Klosterman's season-best time of 56.10 seconds is third-best in the conference. Two Fightin' Quaker relay teams have top-five times. The 4-x-800-meter relays squad of Aidan Henson, Eric Reynolds, Josh Cyrus and Cohen Frost (8:24.41) are seeded third while Anthony Gilmore, Henson, Klosterman and Jalaun Covington, the 4-x-400-meter relay team, are seeded fourth (3:26.65).
Who to Watch - Field Events: The hammer throw, an event the Quakers are tops nationally in, will feature six WC individuals in the top eight including the top four spots. JJ Durr (54.90 meters), Andrew Pacifico (54.29) meters, Nathan Borgan (52.91 meters), and Joe Shuga (52.78 meters) represent the top four marks in the league with Nate Marcum in sixth (51.07 meters) and Justin Shuga (50.47 meters) round out the event. A quaret of Quakers - Blake Jamison (48.61 meters), Joe Shuga (44.80 meters), JJ Durr (42.65 meters) and Justin Shuga (42.55 meters) are all seeded in the top six. Jamison and Justin Shuga round out the throwers group with marks of 14.57 meters (fifth) and 13.89 meters (eighth) in the event respectively. In jumps, Brady Vilvens is seeded in the fourth (1.95 meters) in the high jump and sixth (13.13 meters) in the triple jump. Sam Eastes rounds out the field events with a seventh-place seeded mark of 46.62 in the javelin.
Coverage: Meet information is available - visit the link above. Results will be available after the conclusion of the meet.
Social Media: Wilmington athletics is represented on Facebook (Wilmington College Athletics), Twitter (@DubCQuakers) and Instagram (@DubCQuakers). Follow all the happenings of Wilmington College on social media by using the hashtag "#WeAreDubC".
Up Next: Wilmington will send individuals to the Carius/Gregory Invitational hosted at North Central College (Illinois) next weekend.
