Track Gets Final Tuneup for HCAC Championships

ADA, OHIO -- The Defiance College men's track and field team competed at the Ohio Northern University Polar Bear Invitational on Saturday in their last meet before the Heartland Collegiate Conference Championships.

Defiance placed sixth out of six teams, scoring 55 points.

Junior Javier Castillo (Nogales, Ariz.) led the team with a trio of top four finishes. His best finish came in the shot put, where his toss of 14.02 meters (46 feet) placed him in the third spot. Castillo also garnered a pair of fourth places finishes in the discus and hammer throws.

Senior Joshua Petro (Ocala, Fla./The Villages) posted another solid second-place performance in the hammer throw with a toss of 52.02 meters (170 feet, 8 inches) and was less than two inches from winning the title in the event.

Junior Andrew Fahler (Wellington) added a fifth-place finish in the hammer throw, while freshman Matthew Downs (Rio Rico, Ariz.) finished seventh with a giant personal best in the discus. Downs threw the disc 41.77 meters (137 feet), making a huge jump into the sixth spot on the DC all-time performance list.

Also improving his top 10 mark was freshman Cody Drumm-Turner (Homer, Mich.), who improved his 10th place mark with a javelin throw of 39.48 meters (129 feet, 6 inches). 

Switching to the jumps, a pair of freshmen scored points for the Yellow Jackets in the high jump. Vince Jackson (Mason) finished in the second spot, clearing 1.93 meters (6 feet, 4 inches), while Gabriel Caris (Lambetville, Mich./Bedford) placed seventh by clearing 1.73 meters (5 feet, 8 inches).

Leading the way for the runners was junior Brandon Zartman (Paulding/Wayne Trace), who placed in the fourth spot in the 400 meter dash with a time of 54.25 seconds. Zartman also made his 200 meter debut, running a 24.47 second race.

Junior Daren Gies (Plymouth) also grabbed a nine-second season-best in the 1500 meter run, finishing in the 10th spot out of 25 teams with a time of 4:23.91.

Finally, the 4x100 meter relay team of Drumm-Turner, Caris, Jordan Latham (Bethel/Milford) and Maurice Brewer (Monticello, Ark./Drew Central) finished in the third spot with a time of 44.50 seconds.

The Yellow Jackets are set to culminate their season of hard work with the HCAC Championship meet on Friday, Apr. 27 and Saturday, Apr.  28.  The meet is hosted by Rose-Hulman and will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.