Ohio starts off the new semester with its second meet of the season at Kent State on Jan. 14 in the Doug Raymond Invitational.
The Bobcats are looking to rebound after a tough start to the season when they dropped the opening meet to Marshall 83.50 to 44.50.
Taylor Smith is looking to continue her success after winning the high jump with a jump of 1.71 meters back in December. Emma Ryan, Olivia Mayfield and Jordan Porter all came in second in their respective events at Marshall, as well, and are looking to carry that momentum into Saturday.
Other strong performances the Bobcats are trying to build off of came from Kaitlyn Logan and Rebekah Markovitz, who finished second and third respectively in the 800 meter run with times of 2:25.56 and 2:26.85, and the Ohio 4x400 meter relay team turned in a strong performance by coming in second with a time of 4:11.25.
Overall, despite those bright spots, the team had a rough night against Marshall. But that can be expected with a young team that had 15 members making their collegiate debuts.
The event at Kent State on Saturday will be a big test for a young team that has now had a month to practice and improve on past results and what the coaches saw at Marshall. That big step forward will be difficult against Kent State, which is coming off a strong performance in the Golden Flashes Gala, which included five event victories and multiple top five finishes.
A good performance against Kent could give the Bobcats a big momentum boost for the rest of the season, especially for those young members who probably had a sour taste left in their mouths after a rough first meet.
