The Bobcats found a way to succeed.
Despite being without some of its key runners, Ohio took third place in the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational behind the Dayton Flyers and the champion Cincinnati Bearcats in Cincinnati on Saturday.
The Bobcats were without junior distance runners Kari Summers and Annie Beecham, who went with coach Clay Calkins to a meet in California. But that didn't stop the rest of the team.
We did really well [in Cincinnati]
assistant coach Nick Pero said. It's hard having a meet over spring break not having people because of that and also not having Kari and Annie.
A trio of junior throwers led the Bobcats to the successful outcome.
Jessica Tanner won the discus with a throw of 43.95 meters and the javelin with a mark of 38.43 meters. Emily Amendola finished first in the hammer throw with a mark of 56.80 meters. Bahiyjuai Allen also won shot put with a mark of 15.34 meters, improving on her NCAA regional qualifying throw of 15.10 meters, which she set last week at Wake Forest.
Other winners included junior Cathy Udeani in high jump (1.68 meters), and senior Melissa Wiley in the 400-meter hurdles (1:03.66). Freshman Courtney Weiss finished in a close second in the event with a time of 1:04.94.
We finished third
Pero said. With everybody
we easily would have been second
and may have been able to challenge Cincinnati.
With the success they had last weekend, it is easy to forget that it is still early in the season.
Right now we're still in build-up phase
Pero said. We're going to stay consistent in practice this week and build on our strengths.
The next few weeks will get into the heart of spring.
We're still trying to progress into outdoor season
Pero said. We have a hard week of practice this week.
The Bobcats will be at home this weekend for the Green and White Invitational. They then travel to Knoxville, Tenn. for the Sea Ray Relays.
There are a couple big meets in the next weeks
Pero said. We're going to build our strengths and fine tune some things.
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