Ohio takes third at second meet

by Ryan Ernst
Assistant Sports Editor

The Ohio women's indoor track and field team finished third out of four teams at the Cincinnati Quad Meet on Friday, scoring a total of 101 points.

The host Bearcats won the competition with 168 points, while Miami finished with 139. Dayton rounded out the field with 81 points. Michelle Borsz paced Ohio by finishing first in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 6 inches.

Jill Meranda continued her scoring for the Bobcats, placing third in the pole vault with a vault of 9 feet, 6 inches, and Foli James took third with a 5 foot, 4 inch jump in the high jump.Ohio coach Elmore Banton said he saw some letdowns in his team after the first meet at West Virginia.

"I think in general we were not as sharp as we were the week before," he said. "We looked a little bit tired, but that could just be due to the fact that this was the first week of school and we've just got to get used to the old routine."

Banton said it might be too difficult to determine how his team will stack up in the Mid-American Conference come spring.

"Last year at this meet we lost to Dayton, so hopefully, we're improving," he said. "But it's still early. In two weeks at Bowling Green we'll get another shot at Miami, so that should be a good gauge for us to see if we're improving."

The Ohio men's team also competed at the meet in a non-scoring competition, capturing three first-place finishes. Eli Kiener won his second shot put competition in two meets so far this season, with a throw of 51 feet, 8 inches. James Taylor also took his second first-place finish of the young season with a high jump of 6 feet 6 inches and Steve Schaub won the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.71 seconds.

Banton said although his team is not yet exactly where it wants to be, some Bobcats are beginning to show their potential.

"We know we're not quite as deep in some areas as other teams, or even as deep as we'd like to be, but we're starting to show that we've got some pretty good athletes."

The Bobcats will be back on the track at noon on Saturday at a meet co-hosted by Robert Morris and Duquesne.