February 22, 2017
BLUFFTON, Ohio - A pair of first place showings in field events on Saturday, Feb. 18 nailed down First Team All-Heartland Conference honors for juniors D'Nae Reese (Columbus/Upper Arlington) and Willow Thompson (Arlington). They joined Kyle Knezovich (Utica) from the men's side, giving the Beavers three gold finishes at the 2017 Heartland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships!
Reese continued her weight throw dominance this season with a winning performance and added a 5th place in the shot put. She earned her second straight Indoor All-HCAC award after taking second place in the weight throw as a sophomore. Thompson joined Knezovich to give the Beavers a clean sweep of the top spots in the pole vault and it also added up to four straight HCAC Indoor women's pole vault champions following three consecutive victories for senior Terrill Webb (Kenton).
Sophomore Keturah Warlick (East Point, Mich./Clintondale) smashed her previous school record (8.27) with a clocking of 8.11 in the 60 meter dash, good for 2nd, and only 9/100 from the win. She shined in the 200 meters as well, placing third with 27.28. Rounding out the Second Team All-HCAC honorees was freshman Alexis Cash (Ontario) who made a bold and decisive move from the pack in the 3000 meters with three laps to go to challenge for the win, coming up shy for a quality 2nd place finish. Cash also anchored the 4th place distance medley relay for the Beavers.
In conjunction with the All-HCAC honorees, the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference also announced the All-HCAC Sportsmanship Team. Junior Alissa Hauke (Hillsboro) was selected to the All-Sportsmanship Team from Bluffton. This award has been developed as part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative. Members of the All-HCAC Sportsmanship team are selected by the coaches and their teammates as individuals who demonstrate the ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field/court of competition.
Select athletes will compete Saturday, Feb. 25 at Anderson University in preparation or potential qualification for the NCAA championship meet in March.
-BEAVERS-
