Trivett and Witherspoon Lead DC Men at Dick Small

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College men's track and field team opened up its outdoor season with an impressive showing at the 14th-annual Dick Small Invitational. The Jackets used several versatile performances to rack up 130 points on their way to a third-place finish.

Austin Trivett and Blake Witherspoon led the way for Defiance, combining for 54.5 points in the meet. Trivett claimed top honors in the pole vault, after clearing a career-best 15-01.75 while also earning top-three finishes in the 110 hurdles (16.38), high jump (6-00.75) and the javelin (166-11).

Witherspoon claimed individual titles in the 100m (11.12) and 200m (22.51) dashes, while also participating in a pair of relay teams. He joined Brian Badenhop, Trey Harris and Ryan Perry on the Jackets' winning 4x100 relay team that fell just two-hundredths short of a Defiance record in the event, before teaming with Badenhop, Kyle Longsdorf and Issac Wilkins on the 4x400 relay team that finished second.

Brad Zarembski notched third-straight Dick Small Invitational high jump crown, clearing 6-04.75 before narrowly missing at 6-07.50. Perry crossed the line in 11.23 to grab third-place in the 100m, while Justin Perkins finished second in the 5,000m with a time of 15:54.00. Longsdorf cleared 14-08.25 in the pole vault to finish third, eclipsing his top indoor mark by nearly two and a half feet.

Jordan Weber scored in four different events for DC, led by fourth-place finishes in the 110 hurdles (16.57) and triple jump (36-10.50). Josh Beaverson recorded a pair of sixth-place performances in the throwing events with marks of 37-05.00 in the shot put and 110-08.00 in the discus.

Defiance returns to action next Saturday, March 28 at Indiana Wesleyan's Polar Bear Invitational.