Unaffected by the sudden change in temperatures, the Bobcats ran, jumped and threw themselves to a successful first day at the All-Ohio Championships.
Five events into the 20-event meet, Ohio sits in first place with 41 points, followed by Miami with 31 points.
“We had some good performances today,” Ohio coach Clay Calkins said.
Ohio started the afternoon on a high note, when Alexis Geiger, a senior, jumped to a second place with 5.80-meters. The jump was her second best collegiate performance.
“Geiger could have graduated last semester,” Calkins said. “But she made a commitment to come back. She has put in a lot of hard work and (the result) moves her up in the conference.”
The distance runners continued Ohio’s successful first day by scoring the most points out of all distance teams.
Junior Juli Accurso once again showed her strength in the 10000-meter race by winning the event in a time of 34:38.93 minutes. Because of strong winds, however, the time was 46 seconds off her seasonal best, achieved in Stanford two weekends ago.
“There were points when I could definitely feel (the wind) on the backstretch,” Accurso said. “It definitely took a toll later in the race. I was feeling tired.”
Midway through the race Accurso also had to hold off Ohio State’s Michelle Thomas, who finished in 34:56.27 minutes after holding a lead off more than 50-meters at the 3000-meter mark.
“I really was surprised when she passed by,” Accurso said, adding that it was nice to have someone to run with. “I wasn’t anticipating to make a surge if she would have made a surge. I focused on my rhythm and my race.”
Fellow teammate Morgan Reichert, finished in third in the same event in a time of 37:03.13 minutes, despite having a fever.
“Actually that wasn’t the time I was going for at all,” Reichert said.
The sophomore ran the first 4000-meters with Accurso but had to let her go soon after.
“The goal then was to help out the team,” Reichert said adding that although having a fever there was no other personal option for her but to run. “I would have hated myself.”
Junior Ashley Waddington, in the meantime, finished the 3000-meter steeplechase in third place with a time of 10:54.92 minutes. The result automatically qualified her for the Mid-American Conference championships in Akron in May.
“I wanted to be under 11 minutes today,” Waddington said. “It’s great (to accomplish that)."
Rounding off the successful day for the Bobcats, was Lauren McCullough, who placed sixth in the javelin throw with a new season best of 39.45 meters.
Whether the Bobcats can hold on to first place, will be determined tomorrow, as 15 more events are to come.
