Quality Performances Key Strong Day for DC Men's Track

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Yellow Jackets used a pair of personal bests to that put athletes on the national list to finish in the seventh position at Saturday's Defiance Invitational at the George M. Smart Center.

Senior Joshua Petro (Ocala, Fla./The Villages) earned a victory in the weight throw on Saturday with a career-best toss of 17.85 meters (58 feet, 6.75 inches), the 12th-best mark Division III and the best mark in the Great Lakes Region, and improving his mark as the third-best weight thrower in Defiance College history. Also scoring points in the weight throw for the Yellow Jackets was junior Javier Castillo (Nogales, Ariz.), who finished fifth with a throw of 15.08 meters (49 feet, 5.75 inches), as well as Andrew Fahler (Wellington), who placed seventh with a toss of 14.82 meters (48 feet, 7.5 inches). Junior Justin Bergquist (Cincinnati/Northwest) finished just outside of the top eight with a throw of 13.32 meters (43 feet, 8.5 inches).

DC also had three throwers place in the shot put, led by Castillo with a personal-best toss of 13.89 meters (45 feet, 7 inches), which was good enough to move him to fifth on the DC list. Petro followed closely behind, as his throw of 13.56 meters (44 feet, 6 inches) placed fourth and moved him to ninrth on the all-time list. Junior James Baranoski Jr. (Bloomingdale, Mich.) finished in the sixth position with a mark of 13.02 meters (42 feet, 8.75 inches).

Freshman Vince Jackson (Mason) also jumped a career-best on Saturday, as his jump of 1.98 meters (6 feet, 6 inches) gave Jackson a second-place finish in the meet, as he fell on a tiebreak. Jackson's jump is the best in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and the 26th-best in Division III, as well as moves him into a fourth-place tie on DC's all-time list.

Jackson also finished fifth in the long jump with a best mark of 6.32 meters (20 feet, 9 inches) as that mark also qualified him for the HCAC Championship meet.

Highlighting the Yellow Jackets on the track was freshman Cody Drumm-Turner (Homer, Mich.), who qualified for the finals of the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.26 seconds before an eighth-place finish in the final, as he ran the final in 7.33 seconds. Drumm-Turner moved into seventh on DC's all-time list with his preliminary time. Drumm-Turner also finished 10th in the long jump and 14th in the 200-meter dash.

Drumm-Turner was also a member of the 4x400-meter relay team that placed in the seventh position at the meet. He was joined by freshman Gabriel Caris (Lambertville, Mich./Bedford), junior Brandon Zartman (Paulding/Wayne Trace), and junior Darren Gies (Plymouth). The team ran a time of 3:42.46.

Defiance's track and field team will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Ohio Northern University in the Joe Banks Invitational. Field events are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. with running events to follow at 12 p.m.