'Berg Takes Second at OAC Championships

Led by first year head coach Keith Roberts Jr., the Heidelberg University men’s track and field team took home runner-up honors at the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Capital University March 6-7. Junior sprinter Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria) excelled on both the track and in the field and was tabbed the Bud Yoest Field Athlete of the Meet and the Don Frail Sprinter of the Meet. It is the second straight year that he was tabbed the field athlete of the meet.
 
Ohio Northern University won the team championship with 183.5 points followed by Heidelberg with 137. Mount Union College stood third at 118 points. Baldwin-Wallace College and Otterbein College rounded out the top-five with 68.5 and 51 points, respectively.
 
Higginbotham outdistanced himself in the long jump with a leap of 23’0 to win the championship on Friday night. He returned on day two and finished second in the triple jump (44’2.5”). On the track, Higginbotham claimed the 55-meter dash title in 6.39. His time in the 55 topped his own school record and improves his provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Championships. Higginbotham finished the day earning all-conference honors in all three events.
 
Following Higginbotham’s victory lead was Seth Robertson (Burton, Ohio / Newbury) with a first in the 400-meter dash in a time of 51.33. Adding depth in the event and joining Robertson on the all-league list was Joe Yoder (West Liberty, Ohio / West Liberty-Salem) in second (51.46) and Josh Bowmar (Marengo, Ohio / Highland) in third (51.69).
 
Mark Childs (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany) continued Heidelberg’s success in the sprints with a first in the 300-meter dash. Childs crossed the finish line in 35.67. Backing Childs was Wes Hendricks (Beavercreek, Ohio / Beavercreek) in third with a time of 35.85. Both Childs and Hendricks were added to the all-conference list for their efforts.
 
Claiming the final championship on the day for the Berg was the 4x400-meter relay team of Robertson, Childs, Terrence Horton (Pickerington, Ohio / Pickerington) and Yoder. The group finished in a time of 3:23.06.
 
Rounding out the list of all-conference performers was Horton and the 4x200-meter relay team. Horton stood second in the 500-meter dash in a time of 1:06.14, while the relay team followed suit with a runner-up finish in 1:30.96. Racing to the runner up finish in the relay was Higginbotham, Brett Meadows (Marysville, Ohio / Bellefontaine), Paris Hilliard (Lorain, Ohio / Admiral King) and Hendricks.