The Bobcats won the Ohio Cherry Blossom Invitational and aside from the performance as a team, there were several girls who had career performances.
Though the Bobcats are scored as a team, each individual performance stood out Saturday when they won the Ohio Cherry Blossom Invitational at the Goldsberry Track.
Last season the meet was hosted in Athens during Moms Weekend, which brought support from many of the athletes’ families. With this year’s taking place during Easter weekend, the athletes couldn’t go home to be with their family, so their families again made the trip to Athens.
“It’s a good team atmosphere,” track and field coach Clay Calkins said. “A lot of families came in to see the kids and I think that helps.”
Ohio won outright against Charleston, West Virginia, Wright State, Marshall and Morehead State.
In the distance events, leading off with the 1,500-meter run, junior Tessa Weigand ran a career-best 4:40.04 time, leading the pack.
“It was a great feeling,” Weigand said.
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Through the first two meets of the outdoor season, she placed top-five in the 1,500-meter race, so it was only a matter of time before she outpaced the other racers and took first, and it was fitting she got her first win of the outdoor season at home.
“It’s good to know that I am ready to compete,” Weigand said.
In the final distance event of the day, junior Kayla Scott ran a 17:38.10 to win the 5,000-meter race.
“She’s just been progressing along great,” Calkins said. “All of our distance runners are moving in the right direction.”
Junior Kristin Winkel also had a career high on the track, placing first in the 100-meter high hurdles in 14.11 seconds.
“That was a big season P.R. (personal record) I had,” Winkel said. “I dropped a full second.”
To pace herself, even though she is a short sprinter, she has been doing a five-mile run after her short sprint workouts to help her slow-twitch muscles and breathing.
Her performance Saturday not only was good for her personal record, but also was an automatic qualifying time for her for the Mid-American Conference Championships coming up in a few weeks. It also puts her in a position to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Closing out the track events was the 4x400 relay team who took first place after a slow start in the first two legs. It was junior Hayley Stegemiller who took the baton as the anchor and out-sprinted the other competitor in front of her taking the Bobcats from third to a convincing first place finish. The relay team finished with a time of 4:01.94 and Wright State came up second at the 4:03.79 mark.
Ohio also took first in three of the four throwing events.
In the shot put, senior Janiece Rose set a career-best in the shot put and senior Donyelle Brown took first in the hammer throw. Junior Ashlee Bilhimer also won the javelin throw.
“The throws just went fantastic,” Calkins said. “They were really strong today.”
For Satyr it was the second year in a row that the Ohio Cherry Blossom Invitational had sufficient weather and carried the Bobcats to a significant victory.
“The biggest thing is that not only did the athletes did well in the meet, but they did well individually,” Calkins said.
“That really helps the personal well-being.”
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