By: Erin Madden
BEREA, Ohio - The Baldwin Wallace University men's indoor track and field team finished ninth at the Ohio Athletic Conference Elite Meet, hosted between Otterbein University and Capital University.
Otterbein hosted the high jump, long jump, triple jump and all the running events inside the Clements Recreation Center while Capital featured the pole vault and all the throwing events inside The Capital Center.
BW finished ninth of 10 teams with 16 points while the University of Mount Union won the meet with a total of 231 points.
The team of sophomore distance runner Lucas Simonetti (Pittsford, N.Y./Sutherland), freshman distance runner Gehrig Stanley (Twinsburg/Benedictine), sophomore distance runner Hunter Evans (Milford/Archbishop McNicholas) and freshman distance runner Jackson Tucker (Akron/Lake Center Christian School) combined for BW's best finish on the track, placing third in the distance medley relay and crossing the finish line in a season-best time of 11:18.67, which currently ranks 15th in the event at the time of the meet.
Senior distance runner Andrew Krupp (Ottawa Hills) ran a career-best time of 8:53.07 to finish sixth in the 3,000-meter run while sophomore distance runner Kyle White (Mount Gilead) placed ninth in the same event in 9:04.91. Junior distance runner David Prather (Hardin, Mont.) ran 2:01.02 to a seventh-place finish in the 800-meter run. Sophomore hurdler ShaDaryll Clark (Brook Park/Berea-Midpark) made his season debut with a pair of eighth-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries and finals in times of 8.98 and 8.94 seconds, respectively. Freshman sprinter Desmond Manley (Akron/St. Vincent-St. Mary) shaved almost one full second off his career-best 400-meter dash time, placing ninth in 53.94 seconds.
Junior thrower Jake Mantle (North Royalton) was the lone Yellow Jacket representative for the field events. He placed 14th in the weight throw as his longest toss traveled a distance of 41 feet, 8 inches.
The Yellow Jackets will host Heidelberg University and John Carroll University for their second and final indoor home meet on Sunday, February 21, at 10 a.m. on the Harrison Dillard Track inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse.
