Track Places Seven at Duke Invite :: Track at Duke Invite

April 5, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. - The Ohio track and field team placed seven Bobcats in the top 10 of eight events at the Duke Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Cathy Udeani (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) finished with the highest place, taking third in the high jump by clearing the bar at five feet, seven inches while Emily Amendola (Beach City, Ohio) placed twice recording a pair of fifth place finishes in the shot put and hammer throw.

Amendola threw the shot 44 feet, 11.75 inches while she launched the hammer 173 feet, two inches. At the Southern Cup last weekend, the sophomore recorded a 42 foot, 9.75 inch throw in the shot put and a 162 foot, nine inch heave in the hammer throw.

Head coach Clay Calkins singled out Amendola's display in the hammer throw as the highlight of the meet for the Bobcats.

"It was really an outstanding performance by Emily in a quality meet for us overall," Calkins said.

Also earning a fifth place finish at the Duke Invitational was Brittany Vinson (Amelia, Ohio) in the long jump. Vinson jumped 17 feet, eight inches which was more than four feet better than her jump last weekend.

Melissa Gressick (Lancaster, Ohio) also took home a fifth place finish with a 127 foot, five inch throw in the javelin. The mark was just under 12 feet better than her showing last weekend in the first meet of the outdoor season. Also in the javelin, Calkins was proud of Jessie Tanner's (Newark, Ohio) throw of 117 feet, five inches which was four feet better than her mark last weekend at the Southern Cup.

Andrea Maas (Cincinnati, Ohio) competed in the first 10,000 meters for the Bobcats this season, taking seventh with a time of 38:13.19. Maas did not compete during the indoor season and ran the 5,000 meters last weekend at the Southern Cup.

Carime Reinhart (Boscom, Ohio) competed in her first outdoor meet of the season and took sixth in the 5,000 meters with a time of 17:21.43. The senior took third in the 5,000 meters at the MAC Indoor Championships with a time of 17:26.66.

Melissa Wiley (Columbus, Ohio) also recorded a top-10 finish for the Bobcats at the Duke Invitational when she placed ninth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.90. The junior tallied a time of 15.24 in a sixth place showing last weekend at the Southern Cup in Oxford, Ohio.

"A big meet like this is great because it gets our team some experience against top competition like we will see in the MAC this season," Calkins said. "We're still looking to get better but we are seeing improvement already."

After running preliminary races, competitors were separated into seeded and developmental finals. While the above places all came in the seeded competitions, the Bobcats notched another pair of top 10 times in developmental heats.

Wiley tallied her second top-10 finish of the meet when she took seventh in the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.86. That mark would have placed her 23^rd in the seeded event. Sharon Gase (Plymouth, Ohio) had Ohio's final top-10 finish when she took sixth in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.37. That finish would have placed her 17^th in the seeded race.

Ohio will head back to Oxford, Ohio next weekend for the Miami Invite. The Bobcats began the outdoor season at Miami for the Southern Cup.