RACHEL DYL

Staff Writer

The Denison Big Red men’s and women’s track teams travelled to North Carolina to compete at the VertKlasse Meeting on the campus of High Point University last weekend.

The Big Red men had many notable performances over the weekend. Mitch Keller ’16 had a top-15 finish in the 800m run. With his time of 1:57.71, he won his heat and placed 11th out of 91. Zach Munn ’18 placed 28th in the event with a time of 2:00.15. Checking in right behind Munn, Zach Cove ’17 finished 31st with a time of 2:00.16 and Ryan Keller ’16 finished 32nd at 2:00.73.

Denison’s success carried over to the short-distance events. Michael Bonebrake ’17 finished third in his heat for the 400m dash and also took 4th in his heat for the 200m ash. Quenton Richards ‘16 and Lucas Romick ‘16 also competed in the 200m event with times of 23.52 and 23.83 respectively.

With the field events, David Carter ’19 placed 12th out of 21 competing athletes. In the 4×100 relay, Carter, Bonebrake, Romick, and Richards finished 14th and in the 4×400 relay Keller, Munn, Niall Clancey ’19, and Cove placed third.

The Big Red women also posted many impressive times and scores. Ajai Brooks ’16 led the Big Red with two top-10 finishes. She had personal records in both the 100m and 200m dash. In the 100m dash, Brooks placed 6th out of 48 sprinters and she finished 10th out of 94 sprinters in the 200m dash. Both of these finishes rank in the top-15 Division III this season.

Arlesha Cospy ’18 and Rebecca Fritch ‘16 both achieved personal record in the discus. With her toss of 149’7”, Cospy moved into the top spot on the Division III national list. In the triple jump, Aedin Brennan ’16 finished 5th, allowing her to qualify for nationals. She also placed 11th in the long jump.

Emily Grabauskas ’18 placed 16th among 71 athletes in the 800m run, followed by Kate Benson ’16 in 20th, and teammate Phoebe Osterhout ’18 in 26th. Shelby Jude ’17 and Kalani Rose ’19 also finished in the top-50. The 4×100 foursome of Brennan Macy Diaz ’19, Rose, and Brooks took second in their heat and the 4×400 grouping of Brennan, Diaz, Grabauskas, and Brooks placed third in their heat.

Big Red Outdoor track and field returns to action next Saturday at the Marv Frye Invitational hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University. In addition, select athletes will compete at the All-Ohio Combined Events Championship hosted by Muskingum University on April 9-10.

photo courtesy of Nelson Dow