DELAWARE, Ohio – Six Baldwin Wallace University men's track and field athletes competed on day one of the NCAA Division III National Championships hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University.
For the men, senior All-American, Ohio Athletic Conference Sprinter of the Year and Great Lakes Region Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year Kevin Johnson (Maple Heights/St. Ignatius) qualified for the finals of the 200-meters with a time of 21.19 seconds, which was the second fastest.
Sophomore Ben Beidleman (Washington, D.C./ St. Anselm's Abbey) also qualified in the 200-meterswith career-best time of 21.43 seconds, which was the eighth fastest qualifying time.
Sophomore Tyler Burdorff (Painesville/Riverside), who was the first Yellow Jacket sophomore to compete at national meet in the hammer, placed 14th in the hammer with a career-best throw of 181'11".
The 4x100-meter relay team of Beidleman, senior Shawn Cordes (Litchfield/Medina Buckeye), Johnson, and freshman Troy Robinson (Akron/Garfield), who had the fastest qualifying time enter the championships, finished 10th with a time of 41.25.
Junior All-American decathlete Brandon Eddy (Cuyahoga Heights) stands in 20th after the first day of the two day and 10 event decathlon with 2,635 points. Eddy took first in the high jump with a leap of 6'7.50" (822 pts.), 17th in the shot put with a throw of 35'7.25" (537 pts.), 18th in the 100-meter with a time of 11.66 (719 pts.), 20th in the 400-meter in a time of 56.05 seconds (557 pts.) and fouled out in the long jump (0 points).
The second day of the NCAA Championships is set for Friday, May 23. The Yellow Jacket competitors will compete in the finals of the decathlon and the women's high jump and shot put along with qualifying events in the men's 100-meter dash and the women's 100-meter hurdles.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.eduor Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
