Davis leads Yellow Jackets with individual victory in dual meet

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Yellow Jackets hosted a dual meet against Manchester University Friday evening and senior Joe Davis ran away with the individual competition to lead Defiance in the meet.

Davis, a native of Ontario, Ohio, took the victory in the 8k race, winning by nearly a minute over the second place finisher on the course which will be run for the 2013 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships in early November. Davis crossed the line with a time of 26:53.3, 56.7 seconds ahead of Manchester's Jon Caffarelli, who came in second.

The victory for Davis was his first for the Purple and Gold in his four-year career. Davis's previous best finish was second on two occasions, both coming at the Bluffton Invitational in 2010 and 2012. He also had a pair of third place finishes and a fourth place finish.

Josh Hilton was the second runner for the Yellow Jackets in the meet, finishing in with a 29:09.8, scoring eighth out of 30 total runners on the course. The junior's eighth place finish was one behind his career best finish of seventh, which came at the Defiance Duals in 2011.

Freshman Jacob Merryfield rounded out the top three for Defiance, finishing in 10th with a 29:44.9.

Troy Parrett and Colin Krick finished up the scoring for the Yellow Jackets in the event. Parrett took 12th overall with a 30:04.4, while Krick finished 14th, crossing the line with a 30:13.1.

Defiance finished with 42 total points in the event, while Manchester finished with 20.

Up next for the Yellow Jackets will be a trip to Grand Rapids, Mich. on Sept. 14 for the Calvin Pre-Regional Invitational. The race is scheduled for a 10 a.m. start. The aforementioned HCAC Championships will be run at Defiance on November 2 at 1:00 p.m.