Granville, Ohio- In its first home outdoor meet of the 2025 spring season, the Denison men's track and field team showed its depth with 17 top-five performances, and a record breaking performance by Chris Slater, at the Denison Lid Lifter Meet. Across the entire day the Big Red had 27 student-athletes finish within the top-ten finishers in 15 different events.

Field Events
The meet began with throws and the Big Red found at least two members of their team in the top ten of each throwing event. In shot put, Chris Slater took first with a distance of 15.63m, which ties his personal best set this time last year, while teammate Owen Mathes finished fourth with a distance of 12.89m. 

Slater and Owens would then join Reed Nobili in discus, with Nobili coming in fifth with a distance of 40.78m, followed by Slater in seventh with 39.94m, and Mathes in eighth with a throw of 38.28m. In the men's hammer, Slater came out on top, clearing a distance of 61.85m, besting his own No.1 ranking in the program's top-ten list by 7.19m, and putting him second in the national rankings. Mathes would earn a fifth-place finish with a throw of 42.77m, and sophomore Nobili came in seventh with a distance of 38.65. 

Rounding out the throws events were javelin throwers Andrew D'Asaro and Jonathan Westfall. D'Asaro threw 63.05m, putting him second on Denison's top-ten distances. Sophomore Westfall finished the day throwing a personal best distance of 47.84m.

Over in jumps, seven Big Red members earned top-ten finishes. In high jump, senior Tyler Miller cleared a height of 1.86m for fourth place, and coming in sixth place for Denison was Liam Quinlan, who cleared 1.81m. Seamus McCann took second in pole vault with a height of 4.50m, just 0.01 shy of her best. Teammate Jason Spino finished tenth after clearing 4.05m. 

The final three top-ten jumping event student-athletes are Miller, Jack Blais, and David Atlas. Miller and Blais finished third and fourth, respectively, in long jump, with Miller jumping a distance of 6.60m, and Blais was just behind him with a distance of 6.56m. Junior David Atlas took home a seventh-place finish after he cleared a distance of 6.13m.

Running Events
In the 5000m run, junior Oliver DiCerbo finished in second with a time of 15:54.28, which was five seconds faster than the third-place finisher, fellow NCAC student Preston Pethtel from OWU. Leo Wisnefski ran the 1500 meter and came in seventh place after running it in 4:10.38. Wisnefski would also compete in the 800m run, where he cut it close in the end, pulling off a first-place win of 2:01.96, just under a second faster than the second-place finisher. 

Jason Rideout ran the 400m run in an impressive 52.19, earning him a tenth-place finish. Three track and field members earned top-ten finishes in the 200m dash: Malik Holley, Peter Morris, and Caleb Zell- Ratner. Holley took fifth with a time of 22.29. Morris and Zell-Ratner were neck and neck, and ultimately, Morris beat Zell-Ratner for ninth with a time of 22.43, while Zell-Ratner finished tenth with a time of 22:55.

The final two top-ten individual finishers were senior Jaylin Epps, and Ari Skolnik. They would go third and fourth place in the 100m dash, with Epps crossing the finish line in 10.75, followed just behind him was Skolnik with a time of 10.76. 

Denison would finish second and third in the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay respectively. In the 4x100m relay a young squad made up of Peter Morris, Jake McCann, Pierce Patterson, and Zell-Ratner crossed the line in 41.77 seconds, just milliseconds off from a first place finish. In the 4x400, Rideout, McCann, Zell-Ratner, and Epps finished third with a time of 3:28.54.

Up Next
The Big Red travel to High Point, N.C., for the Vertklasse Meeting from Friday, April fourth through Saturday, April fifth.