By: Erin Madden
ADA, Ohio - The Baldwin Wallace University men's indoor track and field team placed third in its season-opening meet, the Joe Banks Invitational hosted by Ohio Northern University inside the ONU Sports Center.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BW is competing in conference-only meets during the indoor season. The Yellow Jackets finished third of three teams with a total of 41 points. Host Ohio Northern won the meet with 206 points.
Senior distance runner Andrew Krupp (Ottawa Hills) picked up an event win in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:47.75. Sophomore distance runner Casey White (Mount Gilead) placed third in the same event, crossing the finish line in 16:21.13. Other top-three finishes came from a pair of freshmen in distance runner Gehrig Stanley (Twinsburg/Benedictine) and sprinter Desmond Manley (Akron/St. Vincent-St. Mary). Stanley added five points to BW's team total with his runner-up finish in the 500-meter run in a time of 1:16.06 while Manley took third in the 400-meter dash in 54.92 seconds.
Winning his heat of the 3,000-meter run and placing fifth overall was sophomore distance runner Kyle White (Mount Gilead) in a career-best time of 8:59.77. Sophomore distance runner Lucas Simonetti (Pittsford, N.Y./Sutherland) and freshman distance runner Jackson Tucker (Akron/Lake Center Christian School) added two more fifth-place finishes with Simonetti's coming in a time of 5:02.16 in the 1-mile run and Tucker's in 2:59.34 in the 1,000-meter run.
Out in the field, junior thrower Jake Mantle (North Royalton) had a good showing in his first collegiate meet, placing fourth in the weight throw with a toss of 46 feet, 2 inches and then following it up with a throw of 41'2.5" to finish fifth in the shot put.
In relay action, the 4x400-meter relay team of freshman sprinter Mason Birkbeck (Wadsworth), Kyle White, Tucker and sophomore distance runner Hunter Evans (Milford/Archbishop McNicholas) ran a time of 4:07.40 for a third-place finish. Meanwhile, junior Academic All-OAC distance runner Zach Riggins (Wexford, Pa./Pine-Richland), Stanley, Tucker and junior distance runner David Prather (Hardin, Mont.) combined for a fourth-place finish in the distance medley relay in a time of 11:45.95, a time that currently ranks sixth in NCAA Division III in the event.
The Yellow Jackets will host their first of two home indoor meets on Sunday, February 7, when they welcome Capital University and Otterbein University to the Harrison Dillard Track inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse. Field events begin at 11 a.m. while running events will follow at approximately 12 p.m. Please note that, due to the pandemic, no spectators will be allowed at BW's home indoor track meets.
