Junior thrower Donyelle Brown refused to let the level of talent at this weekend’s Jesse Owens Classic distract her from performing well.
Despite going up against some of the state’s toughest competition, Brown broke her own personal record for the second consecutive weekend as she placed fourth with a toss of 57.41 meters in the hammer throw. The throw also set a new school record and is the fourth-longest throw of any Mid-American Conference student-athlete this season.
“The better the competition, the more she steps up and that’s good to see out of her,” Ohio coach Clay Calkins said.
The invitational did not keep track of overall team scores and rankings, but Brown was one of the Bobcats’ seven top-ten finalists.
Redshirt sophomore Ashlee Bilhimer recorded the Bobcats’ next-best finish when she threw for 37.72 meters in the javelin throw to finish in eighth place. Ohio had three top-15 finishes in the event. Behind her was junior Chanda Cuckler, who placed 11th with a throw of 35.42 meters, and senior Lauren McCullough, who finished 13th with a throw of 35.11 meters.
Cuckler not only made her name known in the javelin throw but also in the high jump and 100-meter hurdles.
In the high jump, Cuckler tied for eighth place with a height of 1.65 meters, and in the 100-meter hurdles she placed 13th with a time of 14.33 seconds.
Also finishing in the top ten for Ohio were seniors Melissa Thompson and Juli Accurso, who placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1,500-meter run. Thompson ran in 4:26.08 and right behind her was classmate, Accurso, with a time of 4:26.66.
Calkins said Thompson and Accurso were close to qualifying for the NCAA first round and, with three weeks left in the regular season, each will need to cut a second off her time to claim an NCAA berth — something that’s “very doable.”
Also standing out in a distance run was sophomore Krista Roehlig, who continues to improve each weekend and recorded a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run. She finished in 17:30.59 — just three seconds behind the leader.
Another notable performance came from Ohio senior Alexa Macri, who finished 17th in the discus throw with a distance of 42.71 meters — her best throw of the season.
In the sprints, junior Kara Jackson finished 10th with a time of 57.40 seconds in the 400-meter dash.
In the 800-meter dash, junior Delaney Bolger finished 17th with a time of 2:16.19.
“We trained through this week, so they were running a little tired,” Calkins said. “This meet didn’t show what we are capable of doing from the short sprints up to the 800 (meter dash).”
@WynstonW_
ww773412@ohio.edu
