Pair of Meets on Tap for Akron Track and Field

Friday, April 28

Ashland, Ohio

University of Akron

Ashland Alumni Open

April 27 | Track & Field

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ASHLAND ALUMNI OPEN: SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (PDF) | LIVE STATS (SATURDAY ONLY)

HILLSDALE COLLEGE GINA RELAYS: SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (PDF) | ACCEPTED ENTRIES (PDF) | LIVE VIDEO ($)

AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron track and field team is set to compete in a pair of meets this weekend with the Zips participating in the Ashland Alumni Open and the Hillsdale College Gina Relays on Friday and Saturday, April 28-29.

UP NEXT: The Ashland Alumni Open will feature student-athletes from 24 schools including; Akron, Alleghany, Ashland, Case Western, Cleveland State, Findlay, Indiana Tech, Kent State, Lake Erie College, Lourdes, Mount Vernon Nazarene, Northwood, Notre Dame College, Oberlin, Ohio, Ohio Dominican, Ohio State, Ohio Wesleyan, Pittsburgh, Slippery Rock, Tiffin, Walsh, Wheeling Jesuit and Youngstown State.

Highlighting the Friday schedule is the men's and women's hammer in addition to the invitational hammer competitions beginning at 4 p.m. The women's long jump will commence action on Saturday at 10 a.m., before the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase kicks off competition on the track at 12:15 p.m.

Scheduled to compete for the Zips at the Hillsdale College Gina Relays is redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Andrews (Toowoomba, Australia), sophomore Morgan Buckley (Warren, Ohio), freshman Haley Hess (Curtice, Ohio) and redshirt junior Tara Snipes (Covington, Ohio).

Buckley and Andrews will take part in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 1,500 meter invitational, respectively, on Friday, April 28. Hess and Snipes run in the 1,500 meters on Saturday, April 29, before Snipes closes the Zips' efforts competing in the 800 meters.

QUOTING AKRON HEAD COACH DENNIS MITCHELL: "After five very intense weeks of meets many of our athletes will not competing this week. They need a weekend to train through and prepare for the long haul, which is the championship part of our season. The other half of the team will benefit from competition this weekend in order to better develop through competition. Some of our student-athletes are still in search of securing their Conference or NCAA Championship qualifying marks and with Ashland being so close, we have a lot of options. It gives those that have not been traveling a good chance to show how much they have improved."

NATIONAL RANKINGS: he University of Akron men's track and field team continued its rise up the national rankings this week as the Zips checked in at No. 27 in the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Team Rankings released on Monday, April 24.

Akron is the highest-rated team in the Mid-American Conference and is the No. 2 squad in the latest Great Lakes Regional poll. Additionally, the Zips' women's squad is ranked fourth in the most recent regional tally.

EVENT SQUAD RANKINGS: Akron continued its success in the latest USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Event Squad rankings released on Monday, April 24, as the Zips are ranked among the top five nationally in four events and amongst the top 10 in seven different events. Akron regained the nation's No. 1 ranking in the men's long jump, while rating third, third fourth, eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively, in the men's high jump, men's pole vault, women's 400-meter hurdles, women's triple jump, women's high jump and men's triple jump.

The Zips have been led this season in the long jump by the performances of junior Terrell McClain (Youngstown, Ohio), senior Joe Oduho (Erie, Pa.), redshirt sophomore Jordan Latimer (Huber Heights, Ohio) and junior Jamir Coleman (Lima, Ohio), as the quartet averages a jump of 24-9.75 (7.56m) this spring. McClain, Oduho, Latimer and Coleman currently own the Nos. 14, 33, 38 and 174 marks in the country in 2017.

ZIPS AMONG NATION'S BEST IN LATEST TFRRS RANKINGS: Akron currently has nine student-athletes ranked in the top-25 nationally by the Track and Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS), including senior Phil Jagers (Solon, Ohio), who owns the No. 2 mark nationally in the discus (203-6).

Also rated among the top-25 is sophomore Matt Ludwig (Chardon, Ohio) (fourth in the men's pole vault – 18-4.50/5.60m), junior Jackie Siefring (Covington, Ohio) (fifth in the women's heptathlon – 5,750), McClain (14th in men's long jump – 25-6.25/7.78m), senior Nikki Manson (Glasgow, Scotland) (15th in the women's high jump – 5-11.25/1.81m), sophomore Cody Stine (Shelby, Ohio) (16th in the men's high jump – 7-1.50/2.17m), senior Matt Rowland (Bellevue, Ohio) (17th in the men's pole vault – 17-7/5.36m), senior Mike Ohiembor (Dayton, Ohio) (20th in men's triple jump – 51-11/15.82m) and sophomore Curtis Richardson (Blacklick, Ohio) (21st in men's high jump – 7-1/2.16m).

RANKING	EVENT	ATHLETE-MARK/NATIONAL RANK
No. 1	Men's Long Jump	McClain – 25-6.25 (7.78m)/No. 14 Oduho – 25-1.25 (7.65m)/No. 33 Latimer – 24-11.25 (7.60m)/No. 38 Coleman – 23-8.25 (7.22m)/No. 174
No. 3	Men's High Jump	Stine – 7-1.50/2.17m)/No. 16 Richardson – 7-1 (2.16m)/No. 21 Ross – 6-11 (2.11m)/No. 46 Olewiler – 6-6.75 (2.00m)/No. 175
No. 3	Men's Pole Vault	Ludwig – 18-4.50 (5.60m)/No. 4 Rowland – 17-7 (5.36m)/No. 17 Fraker – 16-4.75 (5.00m)/No. 97 Alexander – 15-11 (4.85m)/No. 146
No. 4	Women's 400M Hurdles	Siefring – 59.52/No. 58 Gnafaki – 59.65/No. 67 Gordon – 62.09/No. 201 Batiste – 62-98/NA
No. 8	Women's Triple Jump	Gaudyn – 42-2.75 (12.87m)/No. 36 Ramos Gandia – 41-10 (12.75m)/No. 46 Cousins – 38-0 (11.58)/NA Martin-Sacristan – 35-0.25 (10.67m)/NA
No. 9	Women's High Jump	Manson – 5-11.25 (1.81m)/No. 15 Mills – 5-9.25 (1.76m)/No. 42 Siefring – 5-4.25 (1.63m)/NA Ortega – 5-3.25 (1.61m)/NA
No. 10	Men's Triple Jump	Ohiembor – 51-11 (15.82m)/No. 20 Twitty – 49-10.50 (15.20m)/No. 79 Hazly-Ward – 47-1.50 (14.36m)/No. 221 Gibbs – 46-4.25 (14.13m)/No. 250

CRACKING THE ALL-TIME TOP-FIVE PERFORMANCES: The Zips garnered four marks last week that cracked the top-five efforts in program history.

The women's 4x400 relay squad of senior Daziah Green (Canton, Ohio), Siefring, freshman Dimitra Gnafaki (Chania, Greece) and redshirt junior Kiara Chatman (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) established a school-record time of 3:39.34 to highlight the Zips' performances at the LSU Alumni Invitational.

Stine won the men's high jump at the LSU Alumni Invitational equaling the No. 3 mark, 7-1.50 (2.17m) in program history.

Senior Miles Baldwin (Cincinnati, Ohio) recorded the second-fastest time in the men's 400 meters in program history crossing the line in 46.72 at the LSU Alumni Invitational on Saturday, April 22, to finish ninth.

Senior Weronika Gaudyn (Kracow, Poland) placed fourth in the women's triple jump invitational registering the second-best mark, 42-2.75 (12.87m), in program history.

A YEAR AGO: Eleven first-place performances highlighted the efforts of the University of Akron track and field squad on the final day of the Ashland Alumni Open on April 30, 2016.

Sean Weems led the way for the Zips registering the second-fastest time in program history in the 400-meter hurdles crossing the line in 51.58.

In the women's competition, Akron boasted triumphs from Morgan Buckley (Howland, Ohio), and Sarah Kupniewski and Rebecca Pietsch (Dusseldorf, Germany), respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, 5,000 meters and pole vault.

In men's competition, the Zips received victories from Sean Poholski (Barberton, Ohio), Baldwin, Kwadarrius Smith (Orlando, Fla.), Zach Alexander (Tiffin, Ohio), Weems, Alex McCune, Jagers, Bobby Mittman and Ian Behm (Volant, Pa.).

Poholski won the 1,500 meters in 4:00.23 and Alexander the 800 meters in 1:51.95, while Smith and Baldwin took home victories in the 100- and 400-meter races crossing the line in 10.67 and 47.35, respectively. Taking top honors in field events for Akron was Jagers in the invitational discus (190-11/58.21m), McCune in the long jump (22-10/6.96m), Mittman in the hammer (191-11/58.51m) and Behm in the javelin (172-10/52.70m).

At the Hillsdale College Gina Relays, Snipes turned in a third-place finish in the 800 meters, while Andrews placed fifth in the 1,500 meters.

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