Ohio junior Juli Accurso continued her strong season with a win in the Buckeye Tune-Up on Friday.
She won the mile run in a time of 4:53.33 minutes — the second-fastest mile time for an Ohio runner this season.
Ohio coach Clay Calkins said he was impressed with Accurso’s mile performance which automatically qualified her for the Mid-American Conference’s Indoor Championship.
“Juli had a standout performance in the mile, winning it and putting her third on the MAC list (this season),” he said.
In the sprints, Ohio senior Danielle Winningham placed sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.65 seconds.
In the 800-meter run, Ohio secured two top-five finishes. Senior Erin Gale and freshman Tessa Weigand finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In the 4x400 medley relay, Ohio’s squad finished fourth out of 11 teams with a time of 3:59.84 minutes. The team consisted of Winningham, senior Kiley Mathews, and sophomores Delaney Bolger and Karissa Conrad.
In high jump, the Bobcats claimed two more top-five finishes. Ohio sophomore Chanda Cuckler placed third with a leap of 1.63 meters, and freshman Hayley Stegemiller finished fifth with a 1.48-meter leap performance in the final.
In the women’s long jump, senior Alexis Geiger took fourth and posted a season-best jump of 5.52 meters, which is good enough for the 12th-best jump in the MAC this season. Following that performance, freshman Erika Armstead finished ninth at 5.20 meters.
Sophomore Janiece Rose placed fifth in the shot put with another season-best throw of 13.79 meters, and finished ninth in the weight throw with a toss of 15.37 meters.
Calkins thinks that the Bobcats’ performance was a step in the right direction.
“This meet was a step forward for most of the team. We had multiple season-best performances and performances that moved athletes higher in the MAC qualifying list. It was good preparation for the MAC Tournament next weekend.”
ab109410@ohiou.edu
