BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's outdoor track and field teams captured the win on their home track at the 50th Sparky Adams Invitational meet, hosted inside George Finnie Stadium.
BW won the five-team meet with a total of 196.5 points while Cuyahoga Community College came in second with 128 points.
One event win and six separate runner-up finishes came out of the field events for the Yellow Jackets. The reigning Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Field Athlete of the Week in junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC thrower Brooke Buckhannon (Collins/Western Reserve) won the hammer throw with a toss of 165 feet, 2 inches. The junior also placed second in both the discus throw and the shot put with marks of 129'2" and 40'1.25". Freshman thrower Alexzandria Strawbridge (Titusville, Pa./Oil City) also captured a second-place finish in the javelin with her longest throw of the day hitting 97'9".
Senior Academic All-OAC jumper Jessica Edwards (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) took second in the triple jump as she leapt 31'11.25". In the long jump, freshman jumper Madison Dietz (Waynesville) finished second with a mark of 14'10.75". After being moved indoors due to the weather conditions, sophomore jumper Abby Lewicki (Medina/Highland) cleared a height of 9'2.25" in the pole vault to place second.
On the track, a trio of Yellow Jackets all claimed wins with two additional runner-up finishes in the same events. Taking a shot at a sprint event, junior two-time All-American distance runner Kelly Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) kicked it into high gear to win the 400-meter dash in a career-best time of 59.05 seconds. Sophomore distance runner Molina Otte (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) and junior Academic All-OAC distance runner Jordan Dascani (Toledo/Springfield) were neck-and-neck throughout the 1,500-meter run. Otte claimed the victory in a career-best 5:05.93 while Dascani was not far behind with a career-best 5:06.16 as the runner-up. Junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC distance runner Bella Pendola (Warsaw/River View) claimed first in the 800-meter run with a career-best time of 2:19.51 and freshman All-OAC distance runner Natalie Vinci (Canton/St. Thomas Aquinas) was the runner-up in the same event in a career-best 2:27.07.
Four BW distance runners also competed in an invitational 1-mile run on Friday night at the Twilight Invitational, hosted by Otterbein University inside Memorial Stadium. Brennan won the event dubbed "The Columbus Cup" with a time of 4:53.06. Pendola claimed fourth in a time of 5:12.15. Freshman distance runner Alyssa Laughner (Howard, Pa./Central Mountain) and sophomore All-OAC distance runner Madison Kile (North Canton/Hoover) rounded out the Yellow Jackets in the event as Laughner finished sixth in 5:14.68 and Kile took 10th in 5:22.55.
BW will next compete in the two-day Ohio Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, hosted by Otterbein University, on Friday, April 26, beginning at 12 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium.
