'Berg Picks Up Handful of All-OAC Honors

The Heidelberg College men’s track and field team picked up six individual and three relay Ohio Athletic Conference honors en route to a third place finish at the 2008 OAC Championships hosted by Wilmington College at the Beckett Track and Field Facility April 25-26.

Heidelberg accumulated 107 points to place third behind champion Mount Union College (183) and Ohio Northern University (162.50). Baldwin-Wallace College and Wilmington rounded out the top-five with 83 and 76.50 points, respectively.

Picking up an individual all-conference accolades in his first year on the outdoor track was Wes Hendricks (Beavercreek, Ohio / Beavercreek). Hendricks claimed the 400-meter dash title in 49.07 and teamed up with Julius Higginbotham (Elyria, Ohio / Elyria), Paris Hilliard (Lorain, Ohio / Admiral King) and Tyson Brown (Van Wert, Ohio / Van Wert) to pick up Heidelberg’s second championship on the weekend. The group won the 4x100-meter relay in 42.12.

Higginbotham just missed a championship in the long jump by a half of an inch. He leaped 22’3” and Ohio Northern’s Ryan Robertson won the title with a jump of 22’3.50”. Also bringing home runner-up finishes was Heidelberg’s 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter relay teams. The 4x400-meter relay team of Terrence Horton (Pickerington, Ohio / Pickerington), Seth Robertson (Burton, Ohio / Newbury), Mark Childs (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany) and Reed Wolverton (Van Wert, Ohio / Van Wert) finished in 3:21.83. The distance crew of Eric Hoogeveen (Westerville, Ohio / Liberty Benton), Wolverton, Scott Lasch (Huron, Ohio / Huron) and Childs ran the 4x800-meter relay in 7:50.88.

Hilliard utilized his speed not only in the 4x100-meter relay, but in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Hilliard finished third in both events to earn all-league honors. He crossed the finish line in the 100-meter dash in 11.07 and sprinted the 200-meter dash in 22.32.

Rounding out the list of all-conference performers was Childs in the 800-meter run (1:56.74) and Devin Butcher (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) in the 1,000-meter run (33:40.61).