BW Women Finish in Second Place and the Men Third at the 2003 OAC Championship Meet
BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin Wallace University women's track team placed second and the men third today (May 10) at the 2003 Ohio Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea.
Highlighting the meet for BW was senior Tim Budic (Willowick/ Eastlake North) who was named as the Jim Wuske OAC Most Valuable Running Events Athlete. Budic won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in an OAC-record and NCAA Division III national qualifying time of 9:00.63. He also won the 5,000 meter run in 15:15.29 less than 45 minutes later.
Otterbein College won the women's title with 184.5 points and snapped the Yellow Jackets OAC-record-tying streak of seven straight titles. Despite the second place finish, BW has now won 14 of the past 16 OAC women's outdoor crowns. The Mount Union College men won the team title with 157 points and the BW men were third.
For BW, the Yellow Jacket women had five event winners, including a double win by senior Jessica Textoris (Akron/ Medina Highland) in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and in the 5,000 meter run. Textoris defended her title in the steeplechase, broke the OAC-record and improved her NCAA Division III national qualifying time in 10:46.14 overall. She won the 5,000 meter run in 17:59.26.
Other individual winners included senior Nicole Drouhard (Canfield/ Austintown Fitch), who won the 10,000-meter run in 38:32.31; senior Sarah Guba (Berea), who won the javelin with a throw of 120-feet and seven-inches; and senior Tara Gruskiewicz (Williamsfield/ Pymatuning Valley) won the 800 meter run in an OAC-record and automatic national qualifying time of 2:12.82.
In addition, the women's 4 x 800 meter relay team of senior Lynn Katanik (Parma Padua), junior Tara Perry (Brook Park/ Berea), junior Jen Southall (Willoughby South) and Gruskiewicz won with an OAC-record-setting time of 9:18.21. The mark broke the one set by the BW 4 x 800 relay squad in 1999. Also, junior Nikki Bell (McDonald) ran the best 400-meter dash of her career and qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet with a time of 57.03 seconds.
For the men, and in addition to Budic, senior Brad Geletka (Kirtland) won the 10,000-meter run in 33:04.84.
To access all of the OAC Championships Internet Web Site information, please click on the championship site on the Internet Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics. Team scores and individual results are already posted.
The Yellow Jacket men and women will be back in action next week when BW hosts its annual Heptathlon/ Decathlon Meet on Monday and Tuesday, May 12-13, at The George Finnie Stadium. BW also hosts the annual Twilight Invitational Meet at Finnie Stadium this Friday, May 16, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Bill Taraschke, please call him at 440-826-3398, FAX him at 440-826-2192 or e-mail him at wtarasch@bw.edu. To get all of the latest Yellow Jacket track information, please log onto our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics and then go to the track pages.