GRANVILLE, Ohio – Highlighted by four new personal records and a pair of all-conference performances on Saturday, Denison men's track & field finished third overall at the 2020 North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted at the Mitchell Fieldhouse in Granville, Ohio. Finishing with their best team-finish since 2009, the Big Red ended the weekend with 92 total points, landing 23.62 points behind second-place Ohio Wesleyan who finished with 115.62 points. Wabash won its seventh conference title in the last 10 years with a total team score of 207.79.
Opening the day with a trio of top-five finishes in the field events, the Big Red secured their first All-NCAC performance of the day in the high jump where senior Ryan Fleming placed third overall with a maximum leap of 6'3.25" (1.91 meters). In the long jump, freshman Angelo Ricci led the DU pack in fourth place following a final mark of 20'11.25" (6.38 meters). James Dixie followed in eighth place at 20'3" (6.17 meters) and Jake Coplin rounded the Big Red in 17th at 19'0.50" (5.80 meters).
After winning the NCAC title in the weight throw on Friday, senior Bryce Stricker returned for Saturday's shot put event where he placed fifth overall on a launch of 46'10" (14.27 meters). Fellow senior Austin McManus followed in 14th place with a final mark of 38'6.25" (11.74 meters) and junior Austin Burgess took 17th at 36'0.25" (10.98 meters).
On the track, the Big Red were led by three new personal records, including a PR in the 1-mile run from senior Ben Foster. Landing just .05 seconds behind Wabash's Ethan Pine in first-place, Foster clocked in with a new personal-best time of 4:22.24 to finish second overall. Clayton Watters landed in the middle of the DU pack in 13th place with a final time of 4:34.51 while Zackary Johnston finished 21st overall at 4:44.49.
Foster also competed in the 3,000-meter run where he finished in seventh place at 9:01.18. Sophomore Keanan Ginell led the Big Red with a fourth-place finish after crossing the finish line at a new PR of 8:53.99, which is 17.87 seconds faster than his previous personal record. Senior Rhys Fitschen-Brown rounded out DU's distance runners in 16th place at 9:19.85.
In the 60-meter hurdle finals, freshman Charlie Webb broke his own school record with a new personal-best time of 8.59 to finish fourth overall. Webb also competed in the 4X200 and the 4X400 meter relay on Saturday, first joining Coplin, Lance Tobasky, and Jack Ruddy in the 4X200 where they placed fifth overall and tallied the fourth-fastest PR in school history at 1:32.84.
In the 4X400, Webb, Tobasky, Ruddy, and Benjamin Rumsfeld closed out the weekend in sixth place with a final time of 3:28.82.
The Big Red will look to record their final marks of the indoor season on Friday, March 6 when they travel to Ada, Ohio to compete in the Polar Bear Final Qualifier at Ohio Northern University.
