DC men take 2nd in Defiance College Invitational

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Yellow Jackets hosted the Defiance College Invitational and put together a good showing for their home meet.  The men's track and field put together a good showing as they finished in second place in the George M. Smart Athletic Center.

A meet that not only saw 18 different individuals see a top five finish or better, but also four different athletes take top honor in their event.

Troy Parrett (Cedarville, Ohio / Cedarville) had a stellar day for the Yellow Jackets.  The junior not only picked up the win in the 800-meter run with a 1:57.15, he did so on way of setting the best time in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference this season.  Parrett also finished in fourth in the 4x400-meter relay race.  The team of Madison Murphy (Westerville, Ohio / Thomas Washington), Ryan Johnston (Defiance, Ohio / Ayersville), George Roth (Defiance, Ohio / Ayersville) and Parrett finished the race with a 3:34.61.

Roth and Johnston also teamed up with John Seeley (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich / Sault Area) and Aaron Kersten (Linden, Mich. / Linden) in the 4x200-meter relay where they were able to capture second with a 1:37.39.

Kesten saw success in the long jump as well, finishing in fifth with a jump of 5.66 meters.

Roth and Johnston had success in an individual event also.  Roth finished fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.97.  Johnston finished with a time of 54.33 in the 400-meter dash.  That time was good enough to place him in fourth.

Joe Davis (Ontario, Ohio / Ontario) continued his successful senior campaign with another win at the Defiance College Invitational.  Davis ran away with the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:09.35.  The next runner crossed the line a distant 13 seconds later.

The 800-meter not only saw a Defiance winner in Parrett, it produced the third place and fifth place finish for a DC runner also.  Murphy and Cody Wilson (McComb, Ohio / McComb) finished with times of 2:03.85 and 2:04.44, respectively.

Wilson teamed up with Jacob Merryfield (Gibsonburg, Ohio / Gibsonburg), Colin Krick (Hicksville, Ohio / Antwerp Local) and Andrew Senecal (North Baltimore, Ohio / North Baltimore) in the distance medley for a third place finish.  The four runners put up an 11:58.77 in the event.

Continuing the success on the track for the Yellow Jackets, Josh Hilton (Antwerp, Ohio / Antwerp) and Clayton Bruggeman (St. Henry, Ohio / St. Henry) finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 5,000-meter run.  Hilton finished with a 16:19.00 and Bruggeman with a 17:47.41.

DC also saw plenty of success in the field with two different first place finishes.  Dylan Waggy (Upper Sandusky, Ohio / Upper Sandusky) and Anthony Nolfi (Akron, Ohio / Ravenna Southeast) got a win in the pole vault and weight throw, respectively.

Waggy vaulted over a height of 3.65 meters to get the win.

Nolfi threw a distance of 14.71 meters to pick up the win in the weight throw.  The weight throw is where DC perhaps saw its greatest success on the day.  The Yellow Jackets took the top four spots with Nolfi leading the way, followed by Luiyi Nunez (North Brunswick, N.J. / North Brunswick Township), Jacob Arnold (Stow, Ohio / Woodridge) and Jacob Rodriguez (Ligonier, Ind. / West Noble).  Nunez was able to throw for a distance of 14.59 meters for the second place finish.  Third place finisher Arnold threw for a distance of 13.28 meters, followed up by Rodriguez in fourth with a throw of 13.21 meters.

Nunez also saw success in the shot put.  The senior threw for a distance of 12.37 meters which was good enough for third.

After the results were in, the Yellow Jackets saw themselves in the second place spot as a team.  DC finished with 128 points, just 13 points behind the Defiance College Invitational winner Alma.

The Yellow Jackets are in action again on February 1 when they will compete in the Taylor Invitational in Upland, Ind.