BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's and women's indoor track and field teams finished eighth and second, respectively, at the Mid-February Meet, hosted on the Harrison Dillard Track inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse.
BW's women placed second of nine teams with 112 points while NCAA Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania won the meet with 136 points. The BW men finished eighth of nine teams with a total of 40 points. Indiana (Pa.) also won the meet on the men's side with 128 points.
A strong day in the field got the Yellow Jacket women off to a good start, led by sophomore jumper Abby Lewicki (Medina/Highland). In her very first meet of the season, Lewicki won the pole vault by clearing a height of 9 feet, 11.25 inches. Senior Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference jumper Abby Weagraff (Cochranton, Pa./Meadville) tied for second in the same event with a mark of 9'5.75".
Additional top three finishes came from the high jump, the shot put and the weight throw. Sophomore jumper Heather Orr (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) cleared a mark of 4'9" to place third in the high jump. Junior thrower Breeanna Karam (Dover) tossed a career-best 43'7.25" in the weight throw as the runner up while freshman thrower McKenzie Burke (Atwater/Waterloo) brought home a pair of third-place finishes in each of the throwing events. Burke hit marks of 37'3" in the shot put, a career best, and 43'2.5" in the weight throw.
On the track, junior distance runner Claire Makowski (Bethel Park, Pa.) and freshman distance runner Natalie Vinci (Canton/St. Thomas Aquinas) each had a runner-up finish. Makowski crossed the finish line in a time of 20:12.01 in the 5,000-meter run and Vinci ran a career-best time of 2:29.03 in the 800-meter run. After Makowski in the 5,000, BW runners took each of the next four places with two more career bests.
Sophomore All-OAC sprinter/distance runner Rebecca Penrose (Springfield/Shawnee) finished third in both the 500-meter dash and the 1,000-meter run in times of 1:23.25 and 3:13.91, respectively.
For the men, sophomore distance runner Andrew Krupp (Ottawa Hills) had the best result for the Yellow Jackets on the track. Krupp ran a career best 9:08.66 to finish third in the 3,000-meter run. In the same event, sophomore distance runner Spencer Roberts (Buffalo, N.Y./West Seneca West), sophomore distance runner Jose Reynoso (Painesville/Harvey) and senior distance runner Spencer Mahon (North Royalton) placed fifth through seventh, respectively. Roberts posted a career-best time of 9:11.80, Reynoso finished in a time of 9:13.41 and Mahon crossed the finish line in 9:13.65.
Senior Academic All-OAC sprinter Brandon Cole (Vermillon) and freshman distance runner Joe Juda (Strongsville) had a pair of fourth-place finishes. Cole ran 53.89 seconds in the 400-meter dash while Juda finished fourth in the 1,000-meter run in a time of 2:45.65. Juda also placed fifth in the 1-mile run with a career-best time of 4:37.98. Freshman sprinter Drew Kopchak (Port Clinton) took fifth in the 55-meter dash finals in a career best 6.81 seconds.
In the field, senior Academic All-OAC thrower Milton Woods (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) placed seventh in the very first shot put event of his career with a mark of 41'8.5".
BW returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 9, at the All-Ohio Indoor Championships, hosted by Otterbein University inside the Clements Recreation Center. Both field and running events begin at 12 p.m.
