Written by: Parker Perry
The University of Akron track and field team played host to the Northeast Ohio Quads at Lee R. Jackson Field over the weekend, where they took home 18 victories between the two squads.
The Akron track and field team started strong, and excelled in the majority of events that they competed in.
Akron Head Coach Dennis Mitchell was happy with his squad and felt that his team proved to be a top team that will compete for a championship in less than a month when it travels to Central Michigan for the MAC Championships. The men will be competing for a third MAC Championship in four years, and stake claim to a dynasty.
“It looked like we had some great performances, and people were tough,” Mitchell said. “Overall score-wise, we were doing pretty well as a team there, taking down our rival Kent with the men.”
Eleven of the 18 victories were won by the men’s team. The men ended up beating the three other teams (Ashland, Kent State and Youngstown State) in duel style scoring, and looked sharp throughout the meet.
The women’s team was able to place second, and beat the Division II, tenth ranked Ashland. Though the women’s team did not beat Kent State (a 94.00-87.00 defeat), Mitchell feels that the team continues to improve and will be in the hunt for a Championship when the time comes.
“Right now we are still young with the women…and we feel like by the end of the outdoor season we’ll be ready to challenge them [Kent] in that event as well and try to see if we can bring home the MAC Championship for both men and women when we get out there to Central Michigan,” Mitchell said.
Both teams shared similar success, as each had competitors who won the 1,500-meter, 100-meter hurdles, long jump, pole vault, discus and 4×100.
In the 1,500-meter, sophomores Brad Hough for the men and Alex Bowers for the women picked up wins. Hough (3:52.29) finished about two seconds better than his second-place competitor, while Bowers (4:50.91) found her race easier to take, winning it by almost eight seconds.
Another pair that shined for Akron was senior Tyshaun Peoples and junior Brittany Cheese. Peoples and Cheese won both the long jump and the 100-meter hurdles. Peoples also won the 110-meter hurdles and was a part of the 4×100 relay team. Cheese also was a part of the 4×100 relay that saw Akron easily run away with the first track event of the afternoon.
Akron won the men’s events of 4×100 meter relay (freshman Kyle Walker, junior Dominique Watson and seniors Manley Waller and Peoples), 1500-meter, 110-meter hurdles, steeplechase (senior Joe McCoy), 400-meter dash (freshman Nick Owens), 800-meter run (sophomore Gabriel Genovesi), 3,000-meter run (freshman Kyle Cochrun), high jump (sophomore Jakob Leon), pole vault (sophomore Shawn Light), long jump and discus (junior Nicholas Banke).
The women took away wins in the 4×100 (freshmen Rachel Christian and Skyler Willis and sophomores Shauniece Steele and Cheese), 1500-meter run, 100-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash (Christian), pole vault (senior Katherine Lee), long jump, and discus (freshman Alexis Cooks).
Akron will continue its season at Miami (Ohio) next weekend, where they will compete in the All-Ohio Outdoor Championships.