BOX SCORE
GRANVILLE, Ohio - The Capital men's and women's indoor track & field squads each placed second out of six teams at the Greater Columbus Invitational hosted by Denison on Saturday behind a pair of CU school-record performances.
Senior Joe Miceli (Newark, Ohio/Newark Catholic HS) had a career day while taking part in two first place performances for the Crusader men's squad. Miceli smashed the Capital school record in the 800 meter dash with a winning time of 1:56.80. Not only did he best a CU record set in 1969 (Rick Mettle, 1:59.25) by 2.65 seconds, but he improved upon his previous season-best time (2:00.85) by over four seconds. His time is also the fastest in the OAC this season.
Classmate Homa Mohemani (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone HS) won the women's weight throw with a school-record toss of 46-11.75'. Her mark is over 2.75 feet better than her previous school record (44-04.25') set on Feb. 22, 2008. The throw is also the best in the OAC this season.
In addition, Miceli had a split of 52.20 for a first-place 4x400 team that won by almost two seconds with the support of Ryan Wolfe (Circleville, Ohio/Circleville HS), Ricky Cantrell (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont HS) and Joel Eversole (Waverly, Ohio/Waverly HS).
Cantrell teamed up with freshman Keith Troyer (North Olmstead, Ohio/North Olmstead HS) to finish first and second respectively for Capital in the 300 meter dash. The winning time from Cantrell was 37.40 while Troyer improved upon his collegiate best time by 1.36 seconds with a mark of 37.73. Cantrell also placed fourth in the 55 meter dash at 6.79 while taking part in the 4x200 meter relay that placed second with a time of 1:34.09.
In the field events, Capital won the high jump and pole vault with the Crusaders taking the top two spots in the high jump. Sophomore Cory Trump (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson HS) cleared the bar at 6-06.00' while freshman Sam Roberts (Grandview Heights, Ohio/Grandview Heights HS) was just behind at 6-02.00'. Senior Doug Gibbons (Troy, Ohio/Troy HS) won the pole vault with a height of 13-05.25' while freshman TJ Bock (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City HS) tied for third at 11-11.75'.
Sophomore Scott Rife (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Darby HS) was sixth in the long jump at 19-07.00'. He also placed seventh in the triple jump (38-06.00') with Roberts closely following in eighth place (38-05.00').
Freshman Greg Clayton (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville HS) had a solid double of his own with a sixth place finish in the shot put (39-08.75') and an eighth place finish in the weight throw (28-01.00').
The Capital women were paced by a 1-2-3 finish in the 55 meter dash as junior Jessica Starks (Akron, Ohio/Akron East HS) led the way with a time of 7.46. She was followed by classmates Brittany Carter (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South HS) at 7.55 and Jenifer Fekpe (Hiliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson HS) at 7.73 with freshman Desma Triplett (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Harvest Prep HS) following in seventh place at 8.25 seconds.
Starks and Carter also joined Lizzy Stanton (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow HS) and Kwesi Seabrook (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne HS) to win the 4x200 meter relay by 2.70 seconds at time of 1:46.72. The Capital women also won the 4x400 meter relay behind strong performances by Carter, Seabrook, Sarah Trick (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe HS) and Christina Walker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow HS) with a mark of 4:13.46.
Seabrook closed out a busy day by placing second in the 400 meter dash as she improved her best time of the season by 0.45 seconds by finishing at 1:01.17. She was followed by Stanton in seventh place at 1:03.66 and sophomore Rachelle Paisley (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge HS) in eighth position at 1:05.66.
CU also had strong finishes in the 200 meter dash with Triplett taking home second place at 29.01 and in the 300 meter dash with Karen Steiger (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch HS) placing fourth at 46.35.
The Capital distance runners were led by Trick who finished second in the 800 meter run at 2:24.65. Senior Julie Horton (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North HS) improved upon her time in the Mile run by nearly two seconds to finish at 6:03.59, which placed her fifth. She was just ahead of her teammates Lindsay Dearth (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South HS) in seventh place and Hannah Childs (Grandview Heights, Ohio/Grandview Heights HS) in eighth position.
Stanton also had success off the track as she won the long jump with a distance of 17-09.50'.
Capital finished with three of the top six performers in the weight throw including Mohemani's record performance. Bethany Kirk (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest HS) was fourth at 38-00.00' and Emily Goerig (Letonia, Ohio/Letonia HS) was sixth at 34-09.75'.
Goerig was third in the shot put at 38-02.00' with Mohemani finishing seventh at 33-08.50'. Two other Crusaders finished third in field events as Corinne Salva (Fredericktown, Ohio/Fredericktown HS) cleared the bar at 9-05.75' in the pole vault and Kristen Brandewie (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles HS) had a mark of 28-08.50' in the triple jump. Mallory Molls (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick HS) was also tied for fourth in the pole vault at a height of 8-11.75'.
Capital returns home to take part in the All-Ohio Pre-meet Friday at the Capital Center beginning at 5 p.m.