Jaclyn Lugaila started the track season with a bang on her first day of outdoor competition.
Lugaila took third in the shot put at the Raleigh Relays, which featured more than 80 different teams. More importantly, her throw of 14.59 meters qualified her for the NCAA Mideast Regional.
It was a real relief to qualify in my first meet
now hopefully I can do it in the hammer Lugaila said. The trip was a real good experience. We got to spend all day together instead of just a couple hours at practice.
The Ohio squads were split over the weekend as the Bobcats traveled to North Carolina. The majority of the athletes competed at the Cape Fear Classic, but some individuals took part in the unscored Raleigh Relays. The meets followed a month layoff after the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships, a meet in which both Ohio teams finished last.
We're constantly running and training said distance runner Carime Reinhart, who was the only Ohio woman to score at the indoor MAC meet. Indoor was a wake-up call; it definitely told us we have some work to do. I think we can go in and build off of our performance at indoor and show them what we can do in outdoor.
In addition to Lugaila, four Ohio men managed top-10 finishes in Raleigh.
Jeremy Keesee placed ninth in the high jump and John Willis took eighth in the 400-meter dash. Brian King finished third in the 3000-meter steeplechase, narrowly missing the NCAA qualifying time. Jason Linton took ninth in the 1500-meter run.
We just need to keep improving
Keesee said. Outdoor is when we do best just because indoor we don't have the facilities and everything. We gun for outdoor. We're hoping to do our best.
At the Classic, the Ohio women finished second and the men fourth. The women had eight individual top-10 finishes, although only the relays were scored events. Ohio won four out of eight relays and individual highlights included Rachael Diehl winning the pole vault and Tamara Fennell placing second in the triple jump.
On the men's side, Shamus Eaton won the 10,000-meter run and Anthony Lyons placed second in the shot put.
The men competed in only six of the eight scored relays with the distance medley team taking second place.
Ohio plays host to the Ohio Invitational Friday at Goldsberry Track.
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