Two groups of Bobcats traveled to two ends of the Carolinas in two days and did not come home empty handed.
The 13 Bobcats who traveled to South Carolina for the ASICS-Winthrop Invitational brought back 12 top-five finishes, while those who traveled to North Carolina for the Raleigh Relays took home a handful of personal best marks.
“We had some pretty good performances at Winthrop, so that should help us out and help boost spirits,” throws coach Nick Pero said.
During the first day in South Carolina, two Ohio athletes placed first as senior Brittany Tyree won the long jump, and junior Ashley Waddington was victorious in the 5,000-meter run. Also earning a top-five finish was freshman Chanda Cuckler who took third in the high jump with a leap of 1.65 meters.
The sole victor during the second day of competition for the Bobcats was senior Courtney Weiss, who won the 400-meter hurdles by 3.49 seconds.
Ohio’s 4x4-relay team of Kiley Mathews, Weiss, Tyree and Danielle Winningham came up just short, finishing two seconds behind the event’s winning team.
Mathews added to her day by also finishing fifth in the 400-meter race and running a personal best time in the 200-meter race, missing first place by only 1.36 seconds.
Cuckler continued her success from the previous day with two personal best records in the javelin and 100-meter hurdles, placing third and fifth respectively. Cuckler joined Mathews, Winningham and Kaylah Howard to finish fifth in the 4x1-meter relay. Howard also placed fifth in the 100-meter race while sophomore Olivia Vitou also took fifth in the javelin. With a few personal best marks but nothing better than 13th place, the Bobcats at the Raleigh Relays did not find as much success as their teammates to the south.
“The weather was favorable for us and the competition was great, but our performances weren’t exactly what we were kind of looking for,” Pero said. “They weren’t bad, but they weren’t the big numbers we were looking to get.”
Pero said the team plans to look over videos and see what techniques they need to work on this week leading up to Ohio’s home meet, the Ohio Team Challenge and Distance Open, on Saturday.
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