Track & Field Teams Impressive At Capital Purple & White Invite

In the first scored meet of the indoor campaign the Heidelberg College men's and women's track and field teams, under the guidance of Kevin Lucas, had an impressive showing. The men's team claimed the team championship, while the women placed second at the Capital Purple and White Invite hosted by Capital University.

The men's team tallied 141 points to out distance runner-up Otterbein at 126.5 points. The women's team recorded 137.5 points to place second behind champion Otterbein (176). The women's team tallied four individual and one relay champion and the men finished the day with four individual winners.

Highlighting the day for the women's squad was a school record performance from its champion 4x200-meter relay team of junior Nikki Jones (Fremont, Ohio / Hopewell Loudon), sophomore Angela Zellner (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg) and freshmen Jessica Smith (Lorain, Ohio  / Admiral King) and Jamie Depinet (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel). The quartet ran in a time of 1:48.95 surpassing the old school record of 1:49.81 set in 2005. Aside from Depinet’s relay championship, the freshman sprinter took home top honors in the 300-meter dash (42.88) and the 400-meter dash (1:00.39).

Jones claimed the championship in the high jump with a jump of (5'00.25"), while Erica Tenwalde (Ada, Ohio / Lima Shawnee) rounded out the women’s individual winners with the 1,000-meter run first place finish in a time of 3:25.36.

Freshman Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria) put the men's team in the scoring column early with a first place finish in the long jump (20'9.75"). Handling the sprinting and middle distance duties was sophomores Cory Beebe (Medina, Ohio / Cloverleaf) and Reed Wolverton (Van Wert, Ohio / Van Wert) with championships in the 400-meter dash (50.86) and the 500-meter run (1:08.55), respectively. 2006 cross country All-American Scott Lasch (Huron, Ohio / Huron) continued his strong distance running on the track with a first-place finish in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 9:12.40.