WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Junior two-time All-American distance runner Kelly Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) and junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC thrower Brooke Buckhannon (Collins/Western Reserve) claimed a total of three OAC titles to lead the Baldwin Wallace University women's outdoor track and field teams to a fourth-place finish at the two-day 2019 OAC Outdoor Championships, hosted by Otterbein University inside Memorial Stadium.
BW placed fourth of 10 teams with 103 total points while John Carroll University edged out the University of Mount Union for the team title. The Blue Streaks finished with 174 points while the Purple Raiders totaled 171 points.
Following the conclusion of the meet, Brennan was named Co-Distance Athlete of the Year along with Otterbein's Claire Lamb.
Buckhannon was the first Yellow Jacket to climb the podium as she won the hammer throw with a mark of 165 feet, 6 inches for the third individual title of her career and her eighth All-OAC honor. Fellow junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC thrower Jillian Roberts (Broadview Heights/Brecksville-Broadview Hts.) narrowly missed out on an All-OAC accolade herself after taking fourth in the shot put. Roberts hit a season-best 38'2.25", which was just 2.5 inches behind the third-place finisher, while Buckhannon also notched sixth in the same event with a toss of 38'2". Senior Academic All-OAC jumper Jessica Edwards (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) wrapped up BW's final point in the field when she leaped 33'1" for eighth place in the triple jump.
On the track, Brennan's first win of the day came when she broke away from the pack in the 1,500-meter run and crossed the finish line in a time of 4:44.83. She then followed it up with an OAC-meet record and season-best time of 2:12.70 to win the 800-meter run. That 800 time currently ranks Brennan eighth in the country at the time of the meet. Junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC distance runner Katie Fowler (Mount Vernon) and sophomore All-OAC distance runner Madison Kile (North Canton/Hoover) also added points to BW's total in those same two events. Fowler won her heat of the 800 and finished sixth overall in a career-best 2:21.70 while Kile placed seventh in the 1,500 in a time of 4:52.61.
Earning her second career All-OAC honor was freshman hurdler Amanda Milo (Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) as she placed third in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.88 seconds. Senior All-OAC sprinter Grace Nemeth (Medina) recorded a pair of fifth-place finishes in her event finals today, running times of 12.47 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 26.02 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
Freshman All-OAC distance runner Alyssa Laughner (Howard, Pa./Central Mountain) and junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC distance runner Bella Pendola (Warsaw/River View) both recorded career-best times and tallied nine total points for the Yellow Jackets in the 5,000-meter run. Laughner finished in 17:48.01 to take fourth and Pendola was not far behind in fifth with a time of 17:48.98.
In relay action, the team of Milo, Nemeth, freshman sprinter Heather Guiley (Louisville) and sophomore All-OAC sprinter Ky'leana Allen (Columbus/Bishop Hartley) placed fourth in the 4x100-meter relay in a time of 49.69 seconds, which was just .25 seconds off an All-OAC finish. Allen, Fowler, Milo and Brennan capped off the meet by combining for fifth in the 4x400-meter relay in 4:06.72.
BW will host the Harrison Dillard Twilight for its second outdoor meet on Friday, May 10, beginning at 12 p.m. inside George Finnie Stadium.
