Indoor track and field teams travel to Ohio for Defiance Open

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Olivet College indoor track and field teams traveled to Ohio to compete today at the Defiance College Open. The unscored meet featured a large number of unattached athletes, as well as student-athletes from Albion College, Bluffton (Ohio) University, Defiance, University of Findlay (Ohio), Goshen (Ind.) College, Indiana Tech University, Manchester (Ind.) University and University of Saint Francis (Ind.). In addition, junior Jalen Weaver (Albion) stayed in Michigan and ran tonight at the Grand Valley State University "Big" Meet.

For the women, junior Cassie Ciaravino (Lapeer/East) and senior Rachael Wagner (Clinton Twp./Fraser) both broke indoor school records. Ciaravino won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.36 seconds but her time of 9.25 seconds set the school record. Wagner was eighth in the mile run with the school-record time of 5:56.26.

Sophomore Courtney Reed (Battle Creek/Lakeview) had the fifth-fastest time, 8.72 seconds, in the prelims of the 60-meter dash. She lowered her time to 8.60 seconds in the finals and moved up one spot to finish in fifth.

Senior Jenna Mayle (Ionia) finished in seventh-place in the 400-meter dash with a personal-best time of 1:04.78.

Olivet's 4x400-meter relay team of Mayle, Wagner, freshman Marissa Guile (Williamston) and Ciaravino took first-place with a time of 4:21.61. The 4x200-meter relay quartet of Mayle, Reed, Guille and sophomore Reighann Bodell (Onondaga/Springport) placed third with a time of 1:56.67, which was only nine-hundredths slower than the second-place finisher.

Wagner posted a season-best clearance of 1.48 meters/4 feet, 10-1/4 inches in the high jump to finish in third-place. Guile was sixth at 1.48 meters. Ciaravino finished third in the long jump with a 4.96 meter mark. Sophomore Danielle Hoffman (Parma/Western) placed seventh in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 2.60 meters.

Senior Sara Wegener (Lansing/Lansing Catholic) earned a third-place finish in the shot put (11.52 meters) and sixth-place finish in the weight throw (13.49 meters). Sophomore Alex Thulin (Colon) was sixth in the shot put (10.25 meters) and eighth in the weight throw (12.40 meters).

Weaver attended the meet in hopes of running faster in the 800-meter run to improve on his spot in the NCAA top performance marks. Unfortunately, Weaver did not run faster, as he finished the race in 1:56.89.

For the men at Defiance, freshman Darren Lumpkin (Pontiac/Oxford) placed fifth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.25 seconds, which was the fastest time for an OIivet runner in the event this winter. Junior Greg Lutzke (Williamston) crossed the finish line fifth in the mile run with a season-best time of 4:33.67.

Freshman Connor Bauserman (Battle Creek/Harper Creek) was the highest finisher of nine Olivet runners in the 200-meter dash, as he was seventh with a time of 23.84 seconds. Freshman Blake Wilson (Battle Creek/Lakeview) finished seventh in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:05.81.

The only Top 10 performance for the Comets in the field events was by sophomore Travon Tatum (Battle Creek/Lakeview) in the long jump. His mark of 5.79 meters was good enough for ninth-place.

Olivet competes at the Hillsdale College Tune-up Meet next Saturday, Feb. 22, starting at 11 a.m.