Throwers Excel in Outdoor Season Opener at Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE, IND. --  The Defiance College Yellow Jackets women's track and field team began its outdoor season at the Early Bird Invitational hosted by Rose Hulman (Ind.) Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Yellow Jackets finished with 48 points to place fifth of seven teams.  Baldwin Wallace University captured the team title with 186.5 points and was followed by host school Rose-Hulman in second with 138.5 points.  Rounding out the top-three schools was DePauw (Ind.) University with 118 points. 

In the 100-meter dash, junior Danielle Robbins (Westland, Mich./Wayne Memorial) posted the top overall finish with an eighth-place showing following a time of 13.71 seconds. Freshman Miranda Herevia (Port Clinton) finished just behind Robbins in ninth place with a time of 14.57 seconds.

Robbins also recorded the top overall time for the Jackets in the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.82 seconds which was good enough for 14th place. 

In the throwing events, the women had five members place in the top-10 in the hammer throw. Junior Brooke Waidelich (Pettisville) finished as runner-up with a throw of 139' .75" and fellow junior Hannah Williams (Swanton) finished third with a mark of 130' 4.25". In addition, junior Cassidy Santen (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove North) came in seventh place (114' 0.50"), followed by the duo of freshman Madi Bowman (Eaton) and senior Katie Tilman (Miami Springs, Fla./Immaculata- LaSalle) who placed eighth and ninth with distances of 107' 6.25" and 101' 9.00," respectively. 

Waidelich also had a strong showing in the discus with her second runner-up finish following a best throw of 122' 6.00". Joining Waidelic in the top-five was Williams who recorded a mark of 118' 8.00" to place fourth overall.  Rounding out the DC competitors was Bowman who took sixth overall with a distance of 105' 0.00".

In the shot put, the Jackets took sixth through eighth places with Santen taking sixth (36' 7.50"), senior Alexis Walker (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) was seventh (35' 8.00") and Tilman came in eighth (35' 6.00"). 

In the javelin, the Jackets had two throwers place in the top-10, led by senior Colby Heeter (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) who took fourth place following a best throw of 94' 3.25". Finishing closely behind was Santen in sixth place with a throw of 89' 5.25".

"Kids competed extremely well with the smaller squad we took," said Head Coach Ken Ciolek. "We had over 14 personal bests and 6-8 times that were extremely close to being pr's."  

Defiance is scheduled to compete in the Cedarville University Invitational next Saturday, Mar. 25. The meet is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in Cedarville, Ohio.