3rd of 15 at Cincinnati Early Bird Relays

March 20, 2010

Senior Kyle Faris (Olmsted Falls) and senior David Burke (Hudson) surpassed national qualifying standards in leading Ohio Wesleyan in its outdoor season opener at the Cincinnati Early Bird Relays, hosted by the University of Cincinnati on Saturday.

Cincinnati won the meet with 102 points to 91 for Indianapolis. Ohio Wesleyan finished third with 65 points, followed by Notre Dame (61), Ohio Northern (55), Xavier (54), Capital (47), Tiffin (44), and Heidelberg (32). Dayton rounded out the top 10 teams with 28 points, followed by Mount St. Joseph (21), Morehead State (17), Northern Kentucky and Thomas More (13), and Wright State (3). The meet consists of relays, running events and field events, with the running events and field events scored by ranking the combined efforts of each school's top 2 participants.

Faris had the meet's best effort in the shot put, with his throw of 54-1 1/2 surpassing the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III championship meet to be held May 27-29 at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea.

Faris's throw of 179-11 in the hammer was the third-best of the meet, also surpassing the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III championship meet and breaking the school record of 154-3 he set last year. Faris's 150-5 effort in the discus was the third-best of the meet.

Freshman Mark Ripper (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) combined with Faris to help the Bishops finish second in the shot put relay, while sophomore Jon Rux (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) joined Faris in a third-place finish in the hammer relay, and sophomore Chris Ziska (Berea) and Faris teamed up to place fifth in the discus relay.

Burke had the meet's best effort in the triple jump, with his leap of 46-7 surpassing the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III championship meet to be held May 27-29 at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea.

Burke also had the third-best long jump of the meet and teamed with freshman Stephen Haynes (Crestview, Fla./Niceville) to finish third in the long jump relay.

Haynes helped 2 other Bishop relay teams to runner-up finishes, clocking a :11.00 in the 100-meter dash for the meet's third-best time and teaming with freshman Jake Eldridge (London) to finish second in that event, and posting a :22.10 in the 200-meter dash for the meet's fifth-best time and pairing with freshman Matt Martin (New Brighton, Pa./Riverside) to finish second in that event.

Martin also had the meet's second-best effort in the 400-meter dash, finishing in :49.89.

Sophomore Kyle Lemke (Loudonville) and sophomore Sharif Kronemer (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) had Ohio Wesleyan's other runner-up finish, with Lemke finishing sixth and Kronemer eighth among individuals for a narrow second-place effort in the 800-meter relay.

Sophomore David Franklin (Reynoldsburg) had the meet's third-best time in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing in :15.74, and teamed with freshman Jeff Farkas (New Waterford/East Palestine), whose :16.43 was eighth overall, for a third-place finish in that event.

Sophomore Kale Booher (Covington/Newton) and senior Christian Schlabach (Wooster/Triway) wrapped up the Ohio Wesleyan scoring with a fourth-place finish in the 1500-meter relay. Booher's 4:06.39 was ninth among individuals, with Schlabach right behind in 4:08.06.

Complete Results