By: Connor Gulick, Head Cross Country Coach
The Beavers hit the road on Friday and Saturday, April 10-11, for the Homon Invite hosted by Mount Union. Despite battling a multitude of weather conditions, the Beavers rose to the occasion and had a lot of PR performances throughout the weekend.
Kicking things off on a rainy Friday, senior Coen North (Denver, Col./North) finished runner up in the javelin with a toss of 55.55 meters. Freshman Thomas Sharper (Sumter, SC) threw a PR in the hammer with a mark of 25.19 meters. On Saturday, freshman Tony Smith (Toledo/Sylvania Southview) and Jose Garcia (Deshler/Leipsic) finished back-to-back in the shot put with marks of 11.05 and 11.01 meters, respectively.
In the jumps, sophomore Delainta Crawford (Douglasville, Ga./Lithia Springs) led the long jump crew with a mark of 5.98 meters. Fellow sophomore Hassan Greene (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Snyder) finished 6th in the triple jump with a mark of 12.02 meters.
In the sprints, freshman Quince Reese (Killeen, Texas/Ellison) had a huge PR in the 400 hurdles, finishing in a time of 58.12, which currently places him 3rd in the HCAC. Senior Devin Hogan (Warren, Mich./Fitzgerald) had a PR in the 200 with a time of 25.87, breaking the 26-second barrier for the first time.
In the distance events, senior Jarrod Roudebush (Coshocton) had a huge season-best performance in the 800 with a time of 2:07.32 just off of his PR. Junior Micah Dodson (Wooster/Central Christian) capped off the night with a massive PR in the 5k with a time of 18:47.02, shaving over a minute off of his previous best performance.
On the women's side, sophomore Sara Smith (Mansfield/Madison Comprehensive) finished 4th in the 5k with a time of 18:56.67 which was just shy of her PR. Freshman Josie Bruns (Maria Stein/Marion Local) made her season debut in the 800 with a time of 3:04.78 while fellow freshman Katie Garrison (Caledonia/River Valley) ran a PR of 3:08.49 on Saturday.
In the throws, freshman Alana Alexander-Davis (Sandusky) had two PR throws on the day and finished with a mark of 8.58 meters. Fellow freshman Gabrielle Taylor (Sandusky) was not to be outdone as she also took home a PR in the discus with a mark of 23.06 meters on the way to having two throws better than her previous bests.
In the sprints, junior Sharon Keefer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) took home a PR in the 100 with a big drop, shaving nearly half a second in the event with a time of 14.03 seconds.
Showing off in the jumps, junior Amelia Adams (Celina) finished with marks of 4.53 meters in long jump and 2.49 meters in pole vault.
The Beavers will have one last meet right down the road at Ohio Northern before taking on the rest of the HCAC in Lexington, KY for the outdoor championships on April 25-26.
-BEAVERS-