ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Wilmington College men’s track and field team continued its steady improvement Saturday by finishing fourth in the Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Championship meet at Mount Union University.
Wilmington was ninth two years and fifth last season.
The throw squad had another dominating day with three finishers in the top eight in shot put. Blake Jamison led the group with a second place and All-OAC throw of 49-6.25. This is Jamison’s second year in a row receiving top three honors in shot and his third straight year of scoring in the top eight. Freshman JJ Durr followed up a podium finish yesterday with a sixth-place toss of 47-2.25. Justin Shuga, also a freshman, rounded out the top eight with a seventh-place heave of 46-5.25.
Brady Vilvens finished off his freshman indoor season in a big way with two top eight finishes. Vilvens, a Wilmington High School graduate, got the scoring started on day two with a seventh-place jump of 41-10.75 in triple jump and followed with a tie for fourth place in high jump clearing 6-2.75.
Simon Heys, another WHS grad, cleaned up the rest of the individual points scored by the Quakers with a second place and All-OAC finish in the 3,000-meter run (8:19.42), breaking his own WC record.
Rounding out the day for the squad, both relay teams finished in the top eight with the 4×200 quartet of Anthony Gilmore, Quentin Davis, Dane Klosterman and Vilvens finishing seventh and the 4×400 team of Gilmore, Josh Cyrus, Aidan Henson and Eric Reynolds placed fourth.
Wilmington will continue the indoor postseason with a Last Chance Meet at Ohio Northern next weekend and Indoor Nationals the weekend after in North Carolina.
On the first day of competition, in the weight throw, Joe Shuga was crowned OAC weight throw champion with a toss of 60-11.5. Finishing in second with a throw of 60-3.25, JJ Durr solidifies a national qualification and continues to shine in his freshman season. Coming in third, Nathan Marcum threw a lifetime best of 56-0. Andrew Pacifico was fifth and Nathan Borgan seventh to give WC five of the top seven.
Heys took second place in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:38. After a third-place finish at conference last year in the event, Heys came back with a chip on his shoulder and improved upon the mark.
To close out the first day of scoring for the Quakers, the distance medley relay team of Heys, Klosterman, Henson and Reynolds finished fourth in 10:40.
