The Bobcats parted ways this weekend when they sent Melissa Thompson to the Meyo Invitational and the rest of the squad, including standout juniors Donyelle Brown and Chanda Cuckler, to the Youngstown State National Mid-Major Invitational.
At the Meyo Invitational, the competition Thompson faced was high, as she was competing against Big Ten schools and a couple Mid-American Conference schools. On Saturday, the senior finished 25th out of 48 runners. She finished with a 5:03.73 time stamp.
“This wasn’t her best time, she had run better times. This was just one of those races that didn’t go in her favor,” coach Clay Calkins said.
Four and a half hours east, the Bobcats continued to set the bar high.
On Friday, Cuckler brought home the gold medal and personal best in the long jump with a 5.72-meter mark.
Brown has shown some serious improvement in the past consecutive meets; she has set personal-best times and been the leader of the pack by carrying the accolades.
She placed first in the weight throw with a distance of 17.45 meters.
“I expected to see this improvement from her,” Calkins said. “She has the potential to not only be one of the best throwers this year, but maybe even one of the best to come through the doors of OU.”
On Saturday, the Bobcats continued to post personal best times starting with sophomore Krista Roehlig who finished fifth with a time of 10:18.59 in the 3,000-meter event.
Behind her was a fellow sophomore Bobcat runner, Kayla Scott, who finished with a time of 10:26.07.
Cuckler finished third in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.9 seconds, and teammate Kristin Winkel finished fourth at 9.01 seconds.
Also on Saturday, Brown and junior Janiece Rose place fifth and sixth in the shot put, respectively. Brown reached the 13.08-meter mark and Rose finished just behind at 13.07 meters.
Not only did the individual performers do well, but the distance medley relay also performed well and finished third in the 4,000-meter relay with a time of 12:27.96.
Another notable finish this weekend in Youngstown came from Winkel, finishing 15th in the women’s 60-yard dash in 8.16 seconds.
With the team’s recent improvement, Calkins said that there was no change in the practice style, and that the runners are getting back into the groove of competition.
“The weather hasn’t cooperated with us lately which has caused us to up the ante on training, and getting the athletes to work harder to continue to improve,” Calkins said.
@wynstonw_
ww773412@ohiou.edu
