Track & Field Brings Home Five Championships At OAC Relays

The Heidelberg College men's and women's track and field teams claimed five relay championships at the 2007 Ohio Athletic Conference Relay Meet hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio on Saturday.

Overall the men's team placed third with 95.5 points behind champion Mount Union College (115.5) and Ohio Northern University (100). The women's team stood fifth with 63.5 points. Ohio Northern collected 110 points to win the women's title.

Both teams swept the 4x400-meter relay. On the women's side Angela Zellner (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg), Nikki Jones (Fremont, Ohio / Hopewell Loudon), Kelsey Elliott (Ottawa, Ohio / Ottawa-Glandorf) and Jamie Depinet (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel) joined forces to win the championship in 4:10.33, while Cory Beebe (Medina, Ohio / Cloverleaf), Justin Shields (Lorain, Ohio / Amherst L. Steele), Justin Zuchowski (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick) and Reed Wolverton (Van Wert, Ohio / Van Wert) won the men's 4x400-meter relay in a time of 3:26.46.

Highlighting the day for the women’s squad was a record breaking performance from its 4x200-meter relay team of Jones, Zellner, Depinet and Jessica Smith (Lorain, Ohio / Admiral King). The quartet claimed the championship in a school record time of 1:47.89. It is the third-straight meet that the foursome won the event and is the second time that they have set a school record. Jones, Zellner, Depinet and Smith set the old mark of 1:48.95 at the Capital Purple & White Invitational Jan.13.

Rounding out the list of championships for the Berg was the men’s 4x800-meter relay team. Scott Lasch (Huron, Ohio / Huron), Wolverton, Eric Hoogeveen (Westerville, Ohio / North) and Zac Sendelbach (New London, Ohio / New London) joined forces to win in a time of 8:03.76 and Devin Butcher (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) (15:33.67) and Jeremy Wysocki (Toledo, Ohio / Central Catholic) (15:37.85) won the 5,00-meter relay, crossing the finish line in first and second, respectively.

Earning runner-up finishes on the track for the men’s team was the 4x200-meter relay team of Aaron Munyan (Sullivan, Ohio / Black River), Beebe, Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria) and Zuchowski (1:32.01) and the 1600-meter sprint medley team of Zuchowski, Munyan, Beebe and Mark Childs (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany) (3:36.8).

Higginbotham out jumped the field in the long jump with a jump of 22'7" and joined Julius Salgado (Fremont, Ohio / Ross) to place second. Salgado leaped 19'11". Also earning second in the field events was Higginbotham (40'8.25") and Beebe (41'6.5") in the triple jump.

Earning third place finishes for the women's team on the track was Zellner, Smith, Depinet and Morgan Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort) in the 1600-meter sprint medley in a time of 4:27.86, while Special Lane (Xenia, Ohio / Xenia) and Jessica Peters (DeGraff, Ohio / Indian Lake) combined to throw the shot put 71'8.5" to finish third.