Postema Honored as HCAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year

GREENWOOD, Ind. – Tom Postema, the junior thrower from Defiance, Ohio, has been named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Field Athlete of the Year on Tuesday. Postema has had a remarkable season thus far, shattering school and conference records. [Release]

The junior dominated the throwing events at the HCAC Indoor Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Postema won both the shot put and weight throw events by wide margins over the rest of the field. In the weight throw, the Defiance native recorded a distance of 62-05.00. This mark set the DC record, and broke the HCAC Championships record by nearly six feet. Postema's throw was just under 10 feet further than the second place finisher at the event. The junior moved up to number seven in the nation with the throw.

In Postema's second event of the championships, the shot put, the junior put on another impressive display. Postema threw for a distance of 53-04.25, a mark that also set the HCAC Indoor Championships record. The junior's throw outdistanced the second place finisher by over five and a half feet. Postema is currently in seventh in the nation in the shot put.

Postema has racked up many awards and honors this year. To date, he has been named HCAC Field Athlete of the Week four consecutive times, a feat that has never been accomplished in the conference's history. The Defiance native has earned All-Ohio status for the shot put and weight throw. The junior has broken the DC and HCAC records in the weight throw and shot put events and now has been named HCAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.

Another DC track and field athlete who earned All-HCAC status is freshman jumper Reggie Neal, who claimed the title for triple jump at the championships. The freshman jumped an HCAC and Defiance College record-breaking distance of 45-02.50 on Saturday. Neal currently has the 40th best mark in the nation for the event. The freshman also participated in the long jump at the HCAC Championships and placed fourth with a mark of 21-04.75.

Receiving Honorable Mention All-HCAC was junior Dan Hardin-Wallace. The junior placed second in the pole vault, third in the 60-meter dash, seventh in the 200-meter draft and was a member of the second place 4x400-meter relay team. Hardin-Wallace's height of 15-01.00 in the pole vault tied the meet record in the event. The 4x400 team that the junior was a part of broke the school record for the event with a time of 4:27.23.

Sophomore thrower Jacob Arnold was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team of the HCAC Championships. Arnold competed in weight throw at the championships for the Yellow Jackets.

The Purple and Gold will be back in competition on Friday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. when DC will host its first ever indoor track and field meet at the newly constructed George M. Smart Athletic Center.