BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College women's track team placed second and the men third today (May 10) at the 2003 Ohio Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea.
Highlighting the meet for B-W was senior Tim Budic (Willowick/ Eastlake North) who was named as the Jim Wuske OAC Most Valuable Running Events Athlete. Budic won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in an OAC-record and NCAA Division III national qualifying time of 9:00.63. He also won the 5,000 meter run in 15:15.29 less than 45 minutes later.
Otterbein College won the women's title with 184.5 points and snapped the Yellow Jackets OAC-record-tying streak of seven straight titles. Despite the second place finish, B-W has now won 14 of the past 16 OAC women's outdoor crowns. The Mount Union College men won the team title with 157 points and the B-W men were third.
For B-W, the Yellow Jacket women had five event winners, including a double win by senior Jessica Textoris (Akron/ Medina Highland) in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and in the 5,000 meter run. Textoris defended her title in the steeplechase, broke the OAC-record and improved her NCAA Division III national qualifying time in 10:46.14 overall. She won the 5,000 meter run in 17:59.26.
Other individual winners included senior Nicole Drouhard (Canfield/ Austintown Fitch), who won the 10,000-meter run in 38:32.31; senior Sarah Guba (Berea), who won the javelin with a throw of 120-feet and seven-inches; and senior Tara Gruskiewicz (Williamsfield/ Pymatuning Valley) won the 800 meter run in an OAC-record and automatic national qualifying time of 2:12.82.
In addition, the women's 4 x 800 meter relay team of senior Lynn Katanik (Parma Padua), junior Tara Perry (Brook Park/ Berea), junior Jen Southall (Willoughby South) and Gruskiewicz won with an OAC-record-setting time of 9:18.21. The mark broke the one set by the B-W 4 x 800 relay squad in 1999. Also, junior Nikki Bell (McDonald) ran the best 400-meter dash of her career and qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet with a time of 57.03 seconds.
For the men, and in addition to Budic, senior Brad Geletka (Kirtland) won the 10,000-meter run in 33:04.84.
To access all of the OAC Championships Internet Web Site information, please click on the championship site on the Internet Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics. Team scores and individual results are already posted.
The Yellow Jacket men and women will be back in action next week when B-W hosts its annual Heptathlon/ Decathlon Meet on Monday and Tuesday, May 12-13, at The George Finnie Stadium. B-W also hosts the annual Twilight Invitational Meet at Finnie Stadium this Friday, May 16, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Bill Taraschke, please call him at 440-826-3398, FAX him at 440-826-2192 or e-mail him at wtarasch@bw.edu. To get all of the latest Yellow Jacket track information, please log onto our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics and then go to the track pages.
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