By: Erin Madden
TIFFIN, Ohio - Baldwin Wallace University senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC thrower Brooke Buckhannon (Collins/Western Reserve) and freshman All-OAC distance runner Hope Murphy (Mogadore) both won OAC titles to lead the women's outdoor track and field team to a fifth-place finish at the 2021 OAC Outdoor Championships, hosted by Heidelberg University inside Hoernemann Stadium.
BW finished the two-day meet in fifth place of 10 teams with 74 points. The University of Mount Union won the team title with a total of 218.33 points.
Buckhannon successfully defended her 2019 OAC title in the hammer throw and smashed the championship meet record with a mark of 174 feet, 6 inches. The record previously stood at 160'7" which was set by BW's Maggie Urban back in 2001. Both sophomore thrower Abby Rodriguez (Grandview, Wash./Prosser) and Buckhannon notched All-OAC honors in the shot put by placing second and third, respectively. Rodriguez claimed her first all-conference honor with a career-best mark of 40'6.25", narrowly edging out Buckhannon in third-place at 40'6". Sophomore jumper Jenna Sirianni (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) added one point to BW's team total by placing eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 33'6.5".
Murphy claimed the Yellow Jackets' second individual event title on the track and the third of the championships when she won the 800-meter run in 2:16.48. Junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC distance runner Alyssa Laughner (Howard, Pa./Central Mountain) earned her second All-OAC accolade of the meet by taking third in the 5,000-meter run in a career-best 17:33.72, which currently ranks as the 25th-fastest time in NCAA Division III.
Also scoring points for the Yellow Jackets was senior All-OAC distance runner Molina Otte (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) with her fifth-place finish in the 800 in a time of 2:24.13.
In relay action, the 4x400-meter relay team of junior All-OAC distance runner Natalie Vinci (Canton/St. Thomas Aquinas), Otte, senior All-OAC sprinter Ky'leana Allen (Columbus/Bishop Hartley) and Murphy earned All-OAC honors with a third-place finish in a BW season-best time of 4:03.35. Allen, sophomore jumper/sprinter Maddie Boltz (Medina/Cloverleaf), Vinci and Sirianni combined for a sixth-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay in a BW season-best time of 52.26 seconds.
BW will host the Harrison Dillard Twilight for its last meet of the outdoor season on Friday, May 14, inside George Finnie Stadium.
