GRANVILLE, Ohio – Headlined by four new personal bests and a new school record, Denison men's track & field took fourth overall at the 2020 Bob Shannon Invitational hosted at the newly renovated Mitchell Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon in Granville. Finishing with 88 points for the day, the Big Red landed 19 points ahead of fifth-place Thomas More (69) and fell two points shy of Wittenberg in third place (90). Case Western Reserve collected a meet-high 129.5 team points to earn the team championship.
Led by five, top-three finishes in the field events, senior Bryce Stricker highlighted DU's efforts with a pair of top-two finishes in the weight throw and shot put. In the shot put, Stricker captured the gold medal on a new personal best throw of 47'3.75" (14.42 meters) which now gives him the sixth-highest PR in school history. Austin McManus trailed in 20th at 33'2" (10.11 meters) and Gabe Springer took 24th (27'8.75").
In the weight throw, Stricker placed second overall with a final mark of 51'3.75" (15.64 meters). McManus followed in seventh place with a distance of 42'4" (12.90 meters) and Grant Balogh took 11th place 40'7" (12.37 meters). Freshman Angelo Ricci also had a successful day in the field events, posting a first-place finish in the long jump where he reached a new personal record of 21'2.50" (6.46 meters). Senior James Dixie followed by .05 meters in second place at 6.41 meters (21'0.50") while Hilton Sanchez finished fifth overall (19'11") and Kyle Hou placed eighth overall (19'5.25"). In the triple jump, Ricci tallied another PR at 40'2.25 (12.25 meters) to finish in fourth place. Dixie took sixth place at 39'7.75" (12.08 meters) and Wayne Chen trailed in 10th (33'4.50").
Senior Ryan Fleming rounded out Denison's showing in the field events with a second-place finish in the high jump at 6'0.75" (1.85 meters).
On the track, freshman Charlie Webb continued his stellar rookie campaign in the 60-meter hurdles where he placed second overall and broke his previous school record (8.66) with a time of 8.61. He also posted the top time in the prelims at 8.72. Webb also joined Jack Ruddy, Jake Coplin, and Lance Tobasky in the 4X200 meter relay to place fourth overall at 1:34.41.
In the sprints, Hou led DU in the 200-meter dash at 24.50 (16th place) and Ruddy took 13th overall in the 400-meter dash at 53.89.
In the distance events, freshman Benjamin Rumsfeld finished in seventh place with a final time of 2:04.50. The Big Red also tallied three, top-10 finishes in the 5,000-meter run, led by senior Clayton Watters in fifth place at 16:05.79 and Rhys Fitschen-Brown in seventh (16:29.91). Zackary Johnston landed in 10th at 17:08.66 and Calvin Riley ranked 12th overall at 17:22.88.
In the one-mile run, Millan Henegar finished in 12th place with a final time of 4:52.78.
In the final event of the night, Tobasky, Ruddy, Rumsfeld, and Webb teamed up in the 4X400 meter relay to finish fourth overall at 3:40.97.
Denison will return to action next Friday, Feb. 14 when they travel to Delaware, Ohio to compete in the Ohio Wesleyan Open.
