Track & Field begins season at Dave Meuleman Classic

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Defiance College track and field teams began their season on Friday night by hosting Anderson University and Adrian college in the Dave Meuleman Classic at the George M. Smart Center.

"I feel like the meet went really well. It was exciting just to get a meet again. Some of these student-athletes haven't competed in two years so it was good to get out there," Defiance head coach Nathan Christianson said. "For everything, this team and program have gone through the last year or so this first meet was all about competing and having fun."

Lisa Markau set a personal best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.41 seconds, the fifth-best in school history. Markau also placed first in women's 200-meter mash. In addition to Markau, Shi'nique Lawrence placed fourth in the 60-meters. On the men's side, Gabriel Melvin also set a new personal best in the 60-meters with a time of 7.15 seconds.

"Lisa performed really well.  We started making progress with her last year and focused on getting her healthy. Coach Baldwin has really taken her to the next level and helped build her confidence. Two wins is a nice confidence booster early for her to help carry her to success at the conf championship" said Christianson. 

The Defiance men's team had strong performances from a few freshmen making their collegiate debuts. Ron Scott recorded a throw of 10.61 meters in the shot put while Tawon Cannon finished second in the long jump with a mark of 5.64 meters. John Reese and Joshua Gaffney placed second and third in a highly-competitive men's 800-meter dash. Robert Marshall took home a pair of third-place finishes in the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash for the Yellow Jackets.

"Josh and John really stuck to the race plan. Usually, in the first meet of the year, your goal for the 800 is really to get through 600 meters and they were competitive the whole race through", Christianson said. "Some other bright spots for us were Maurice Brewer and Gabe. Gabe broke 7.20 for the first time and did well in the 200. V'Sean Palmer also had a pretty good day in the long jump, 400, and 4 x 400 and competed really well."

The event was the first of a series of meet the Yellow Jackets will host this season. "Overall it's just nice to compete again," Christianson said. "I am very thankful that Adrian and Anderson were able to make it over for this event and I want to give special thanks to Kaleb Tyree and Coach Baldwin for all the work they put in this week to help set up this meet. I'd also like to thank the DC community for really stepping up and helping with set up and with the obstacles we faced preparing to host this event."

Up next Defiance will host the Earlham and Anderson in the Dick Small Invitational on Friday, February 5 at 4 p.m.