Yellow Jackets Place Fifth at DC Invitational

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Defiance College women's track and field team took fifth place out of eight teams in Saturday's Defiance College Invitational at the George M. Smart Center.

Albion barely edged out Adrian, 132-129, to win the meet, while Alma (92) and St. Francis (75) were third and fourth, while Defiance finished the afternoon with 55 points, beating out Olivet (51), Grace (24), and Huntington (12) to round out the collegiate teams in the field.

The Yellow Jackets scored 22 points in the weight throw to highlight the day, as four women placed in the top eight positions, led by senior Brooke Waidelich (Pettisville), who threw a career-best 15.12 meters (49 feet, 7.25 inches). The toss is good enough to move her into the third position on the all-time Defiance College list, as well put her into the top 40 nationally in the event.

Following closely behind were senior Hannah Williams (Swanton) and sophomore Madi Bowman (Eaton), who both threw personal bests of 14.21 meters (46 feet, 7.5 inches) and 14.17 meters (46 feet, 6 inches), respectively, to place in the third and fourth positions in the meet. Those throws leap both of them into seventh and eighth on the all-time list. Rounding out the scoring for DC in the weight throw was senior Cassidy Santen (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove North), who placed in the seventh position with a throw of 12.95 meters (42 feet, 6 inches).

DC also had a pair of throwers place in the shot put on Saturday, as Waidelich and Santen followed up their performances in the weight throw by finishing in second and third, respectively. Waidelich threw a mark of 10.93 meters (35 feet, 10.5 inches), while Santen followed closely behind with a mark of 10.54 meters (34 feet, 7 inches).

Freshman Meagan Trimpey (Bowling Green) had another quality performance, earning a place in the Defiance College top-10 list in a pair of events. In the long jump, Trimpey had a best jump of 4.85 meters (15 feet, 11 inches), qualifying her for the conference championship meet and put her in the seventh position on DC's all-time list. To go along with her performance in the long jump, Trimpey ran an 8.59 in the 60-meter dash, as she finished 12th in the meet, but moved up to sixth on the all-time performance list.

Freshman Malia Ferry (Milford) placed fourth in the 800-meter run this afternoon with a time of 2:40.44.

Also placing for the Yellow Jackets was the 4x200 meter relay team of Danielle Robbins (Westland, Mich./Wayne Memorial), Trimpey, Mackenzie Mohrman (Deshler/Patrick Henry), and Ferry, as the team ran a time of 1:57.32 to finish in the third position in the meet.

The Yellow Jacket track team will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 as they travel to the Joe Banks Invitational at Ohio Northern University. Field events are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. with running events to follow at noon.