Yellow Jackets Finish Seventh in Defiance Invitational

DEFIANCE, OHIO – The Defiance College men's track and field team hosted the Defiance College Invitational and finished with a team score of 49.50 points, placing seventh overall.

The invitational was the biggest meet in the history of the George M. Smart Center and consisted of 11 teams and 494 athletes. The men's team of Ohio Northern University finished in first place with a team score of 142.50 points.

The Yellow Jackets made their presence known with top-ten finishes in 11 different events.

Defiance was led by Darius Spinks, who finished second in three different events. Spinks competed in the 60-meter dash (7.05 seconds), 200-meter dash (22.93 seconds) and long jump (6.69 meters).

Senior Troy Parrett (Cedarville) also took home a second place finish in the 800-meter run, crossing the line at the 1:57.74 minute mark. Fellow Yellow Jacket, sophomore Jacob Rindler (St. Henry) crossed the line ninth with a time of 2:03.41.

Sophomore Colin Krick (Hicksville/Antwerp Local) competed in the 5,000-meter run and crossed the line at the 16:37.81 minute mark for a sixth-place finish.

The 4x400 relay team consisting of Parrett, senior Ryan Johnston (Defiance/Ayersville), senior Sebastian Rue (Defiance/Ayersville) and Rindler finished seventh overall with a time of 3:34.92.

The distance medley team consisting of senior Andrew Senecal (North Baltimore), Cody Wilson, freshman Diego Sanchez (Kissimmee, Fla. /Celebration) and sophomore Clayton Bruggeman (St. Henry) crossed the line sixth, with a time of 12:04. 76.

Freshman Aaron Schwarzbek (Sherwood/Fairview) crossed the line seventh in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.87. Schwarzbek also competed in the high jump and cleared the bar at 1.73 meters, giving him the 10th place spot.

Rounding out the field events for Defiance included, Johnston with a fourth-place tie in the pole vault where he cleared the bar at the height of 3.70 meters and senior Jacob Rodriguez (Ligonier, Ind. /West Noble) threw the weight a distance of 13.38 meters to finish seventh overall.

The Yellow Jackets will return to action on Friday, Jan. 30 when they travel to Angola, Ind. to compete at Trine (Ind.) University. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m.