WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's indoor track and field teams finished fourth, kicking off the season at the Dave Lehman Open hosted by Otterbein University inside the Clements Recreation Center.
BW placed fourth of 11 teams with a total of 69 points. Host Otterbein won the meet with 194 points.
Field events produced two event champions between senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference thrower Zak Dysert (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) and sophomore jumper/sprinter Alex Dempsey (Madison). Dysert began his quest to return to the NCAA Championships by winning the weight throw with a career-best toss of 61 feet, 9 inches, the fifth-best toss in Division III at the time of the meet. Meanwhile, Dempsey won the long jump with a career-best leap of 22'9", crushing his previous career best by a full 1.5 feet.
Dysert and Dempsey each recorded additional fifth-place finishes in other events. Dempsey notched his second career-best mark of the day in the high jump when he cleared a height of 6'0.75" and Dysert hit 46'7.25" in the shot put, already improving on last year's season-best mark by over 3 inches.
Just 6 inches away from a third field event champion, junior All-OAC thrower Ted Achladis (Avon Lake/Elyria Catholic) threw 50'6.75" as the runner-up in the shot put. Senior Academic All-OAC thrower Milton Woods (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) made his return from injury with a seventh-place finish in the weight throw with a toss of 48'8". Freshman Garrett Fess (North Olmsted) also notched two seventh-place finishes in the long jump and the high jump with marks of 20'9.25" and 5'11.5".
Two freshmen in distance runner Nate Matthews (Marietta) and Fess had the best results for the Yellow Jackets on the track. Matthews placed fourth in the 500-meter dash when he crossed the finish line in 1:09.48. Fess also took fourth in the 60-meter hurdle finals in a time of 8.92 seconds.
Staying in the same two events, junior hurdler Robby Becker (South Amherst/Firelands) finished seventh in the 60 hurdles with a time of 9.12 seconds while freshman distance runner David Prather (Hardin, Mont.) claimed eighth place in the 500 in 1:12.65.
Senior Academic All-OAC sprinter Brandon Cole (Vermillion) posted a time of 53.76 seconds to place seventh in the 400-meter dash.
In relay action, the 4x400-meter relay team of Cole, Matthews, Prather and freshman distance runner Joe Juda (Strongsville) combined for a third-place finish with a time of 3:38.17.
BW will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 26, when the Yellow Jackets host the Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge on the Harrison Dillard Track inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse. Field events will begin at 9 a.m. while running events will begin at approximately 9:45 a.m.
