Track & Field Opens Outdoor Season in Memphis

The Heidelberg College men’s and women’s track and field teams opened their 2008 outdoor season at the Rhodes College Open Meet in Memphis, Tenn. Saturday, March 22. Both the men’s and women’s team represented the Berg well in its first test on the outdoor track.
 
Leading the way for the women was the 4x100-meter relay team with a second place finish in a time of 48.90 followed by Judy Bataille (Felicity, Ohio / Felicity-Franklin) with a second in the 100-meter dash (12.22). The relay team of Colleen Nitchman (Wakeman, Ohio / Western Reserve), Catie Evers (Burkettsville, Ohio / St. Henry), Jamie Depinet (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel) and Bataille topped the Heidelberg record book’s mark of 49.71 set a year ago, while Bataille inked her way into the outdoor record book in her first outing as well. Bataille topped the 100-meter dash record of 12.6 that was held by Monica Scott (1986) and Brenda Weaver (1989).
 
Bringing home two top-10 finishes was Nitchman with a seventh in the 100-meter dash (12.81) and a ninth in the 200-meter dash (26.24). The duo of Depinet and Angela Zellner (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg) finished seventh (1:00.50) and ninth (1:01.23), respectively, in the 400-meter dash.
 
Rounding out the top-10 finishers on the women’s side was Paige Reiman (Defiance, Ohio / Tinora) with an eighth in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 16.16.
 
On the men’s side Mark Childs (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany) led the way with a runner-up finish in the 800-meter run (1:57.20), while Reed Wolverton (Van Wert, Ohio / Van Wert) backed Childs with an eighth (2:00.13).
 
Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria) took third in the long jump (22’4.5”) and eighth in the 100-meter dash (10.95). Rounding out individual top-10 finishes was Zip Zimmer (Warsaw, Ohio / River View) in the pole vault (12’5.5”) and Scott Lasch (Huron, Ohio / Huron) with a 10th in the 5,000-meter run (15:35.94).
 
On the relay side of things, Heidelberg’s men’s team took fourth in the 4x100-meter relay (42.60) and seventh in the 4x400-meter relay (3:26.34).
Heidelberg takes to the track in Ohio next Saturday, March 29 at the Ohio Athletic Conference West Meet hosted by Wilmington College.