Jackets sit atop standings after first day of HCAC Championships

DEFIANCE, Ohio – After the first day of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championship, the DC Track and Field team is 4.5 points above second place Manchester and 12 points above third place Hanover.

In a huge day one performance, eight women garnered points for the Yellow Jackets and six more set themselves up to do the same tomorrow.

Eme Miller (Portland, Ind. / Jay County) ran away with the 3,000-meter steeplechase victory.  She finished first with a time of 11:33.29, nearly 20 seconds faster than the runner-up.  Her victory gave her the honor of being named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference champion in the event.

DC had a huge performance in the javelin throw.  The Yellow Jackets collected 21 points thanks to Kali George (East Palestine, Ohio / East Palestine), Kim Bingley (Ottawa, Ohio / Ottawa-Glandorf), and Colby Heeter (Bloomsburg, Pa. / Bloomsburg).  They finished first, second, and sixth in the event.  George picked up the HCAC crown with a throw of 38.23 meters.  Bingley and Heeter followed with throws of 35.65 meters and 31.45 meters, respectively.

Maggie Sarfino (Dayton, Ohio / Kettering Fairmont) picked up yet another win for DC in the triple jump.  She jumped a distance of 10.82 meters for the victory.  Waverly Weaks (Liberty Center, Ohio / Liberty Center) joined Sarfino in picking up points for DC in the triple jump.  Weaks finished seventh with a distance of 9.90 meters.

Bingley joined Sam Cook (Raiford, Fla. / Bradford County) in receiving points in the shot put.  Cook finished second with a throw of 12.44 meters.  Bingley added a fifth place finish with a throw of 10.88 meters.

Rounding out points for DC on the day was Kelsey Bowling (Sidney, Ohio / Houston) in the pole vault.  Her jump of 2.44 meters placed her in eighth in the event.

The Yellow Jackets secured potential for a lot of points in sprints tomorrow.  Six athletes punched their tickets to the finals in two events each for day two.

Sprinter Micah Wilson (Mims, Fla. / Astronaut) claimed the one spot in two different events for tomorrow.  She claimed the one spot in the 100-meter dash with a 12.60, .34 faster than the second placed sprinter.  She also will head into the 200-meter dash as the favorite with a time of 26.18.

Bree Anderson (Huntertown, Ind. / Carroll) will join Wilson in those two events for the finals.  Anderson qualified for the 100-meter dash with a 13.49 and the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.75.  She sits in eighth in the 100 and seventh in the 200.

George will also join the party in the 200-meter dash.  She enters the finals ranked fifth with a 27.50 in today's preliminaries.  George's busy day also involved qualifying herself as the favorite for tomorrow's 400-meter dash.  Her time of 1:00.68 was nearly a second better than the number two runner.

The Yellow Jackets look to make the most noise in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles.  Bingley, Sarfino, and Brooke Lime (Defiance, Ohio / Defiance) all qualified for both final races tomorrow.

Sarfino is the favorite heading into the 400-meter hurdles and sitting in fourth in the 100-meter hurdles.  Her time of 1:07.25 marked her as the favorite 400-meter hurdles.  She ran a 16:04 to secure her trip to the finals in the 100-meter hurdles.

Bingley is also highly ranked in both events.  With a time of 1:07.75 she will begin the race in second for the 400-meter hurdles and will be in the three spot in the 100-meter hurdles with a 15.72.

Lime rounds out the talented trio of hurdlers for DC.  In the 100-meter hurdles she ran a 16.22 and ran a 1:08.86 in the 400-meter hurdles to sit in fifth and sixth, respectively.

The Yellow Jackets will start things back up at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning to try to hold onto their lead to pick up the conference championship.