FINAL RESULTS
BEREA, Ohio – Friday's weather at the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Outdoor Championships was anything but desirable, as consistent rain and heavy winds left a wet competition surface for all 10 schools converging once again at/around George Finnie Stadium on the campus of Baldwin Wallace.
In the end, the Cardinals walked away in fifth place collectively thanks to a balanced handful of standouts contributing on both days. Otterbein ended up with five podium (All-OAC) performances across the
two-day meet…including a pair from standouts from 35-year old
Cwinn Febus and fellow veteran
Mike Rennette across Friday afternoon.
Mount Union took the team title in dramatic fashion, heading into the final event (4x4 relay) all knotted up with John Carroll atop the leaderboard. The Purple Raiders ended up eclipsing JCU by three seconds in the culminating baton exchange… emerging with a 223-221 victory.
Here's how Friday played out for the Cardinals:
- The 4x1 quartet of Cwinn Febus, Vincent Zeren, Shamar Brittman and Vincent Fisher launched the running section with a fourth-place effort, covering the lap in 43.44 seconds to just miss the podium.
- Cal Yackin (1,500 meters) then took second place in a dynamite All-American showdown with John Carroll standouts Alex Phillip and Jamie Dailey. The trio crossed within a two-second window of each other… with Yackin going 3:52.99 for runner-up honors.
- The Cards then began charting solid points on the straightaway... beginning with a 1-2 finish in the 110 hurdles. Febus (14.55) won the OAC title while Mike Rennette ran 14.76 to cross just ahead of Mount Union's Carson Troyer in a packed race.
- Febus came back 30 minutes later to finish second in the 100-meter dash, running 11.10 to earn another eight points for the team.
- Yackin just missed scoring in the 800 meters, going 1:58 and change to miss the top eight by less than a second.
- Rennette earned his third All-OAC medal of the weekend in the 400 hurdles, running 55.19 to eclipse JCU's Mick Doyle at the line. Rennette, a returning national qualifier in the event, grabbed 10 points for the club in the process.
- Otterbein had four in the top 13 of the 5K later on, headlined by John Nice (fifth on Thursday in the 10K) leading the charge in sixth this time out. He ran 14:47 while teammates Liam Walits, Nathan Craft and Gage Beireis (All-OAC yesterday in the steeple) also laced up.
- The Cards took sixth in that final 4x4 relay as Kalani Booker, Cincere Engram, Colin White and Yackin as the anchor teamed for 3:31 and change.
UP NEXT:
Select Cardinals will take on a handful of Last Chance Meets in order to qualify (or improve ranking) heading into the NCAA Championships, conveniently hosted this spring at SPIRE Institute in Geneva.
