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2012-13 Schedule (Printable)
2012-13 Roster
The Capital University men's and women's track & field teams head into their second season under coach Kunle Lawson and begin competition for the indoor season this Saturday at Tiffin.
Last season, the Crusader women placed fifth at the OAC Indoor Championships and improved to fourth at the outdoor meet, while the men finished 10th at each of the two-day competitions. Capital student-athletes also broke or set 16 school records during the 2011-12 campaign, including 13 indoor marks (nine women, four men) and a trio of outdoor records (two women, one man).
In addition to the team's overall success, sprinter/jumper Josh Woods (Marysville, Ohio) qualified for the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the high jump in the last meet of the regular season with a school-record mark of 23:08.25. Woods, who finished 19th at the national meet, is a three-time national qualifier in his career. He also competed at the 2010 Indoor Championships in the long jump and the 2010 Outdoor Championships in the 200-meter dash.
The Crusaders aim for more national qualifiers this season with several talented, experienced student-athletes returning to the fold as well as host of gifted freshmen entering the fray in a variety of events.
After opening the season this Saturday, Capital hosts the Purple & White Invite on Dec. 8 at the Capital Center. The Crusaders also host the Capital Challenge (Jan. 12), OAC Split Meet (Jan. 26) and the Capital Classic/Rick Meindl Last Chance (Feb. 16).
The OAC Championships are scheduled for Feb. 22-23 at Ohio Northern. The NCAA Division III Indoor Championships take place on March 8-9 at North Central (Ill.). The outdoor season begins on March 15-16 at the Wake Forest (N.C.) Open, and the national outdoor meet concludes the season May 23-25 at Wisconsin-La Crosse.
See below for an outlook on each of the 2012-13 Capital University track & field teams.
Men
Woods and sophomore Travon Bodrick (New Albany, Ohio) lead a men's team that features eight seniors, 12 juniors, five sophomores and six freshmen.
In addition to qualifying for the NCAA Championships three times, Woods is a two-time H. Dillard Most Outstanding Sprint Athlete award winner at the OAC Outdoor Championships. A 2010 OAC indoor champion in the 200-meter dash, Woods currently holds school records in the 200 (indoor and outdoor), long jump (outdoor) and triple jump (indoor). He finished in the top eight of five individual events (three indoor, two outdoor) and one relay (outdoor) at the OAC championship meets last season.
Bodrick experienced success in both the triple jump and long jump during his rookie campaign in 2011-12. He placed sixth in both events at the indoor championships before taking eighth in each competition at the outdoor meet.
The Crusaders return several veteran throwers to the mix. Senior Mitch Auchmuty (Cygnet, Ohio; at right) placed fifth in the discus throw at last year's conference outdoor meet and currently holds the program record in the indoor weight throw with a mark of 48-02.00. Junior Paul Baker (Ashland, Ohio) placed seventh in the shot put at last year's OAC indoor meet, while senior Erik Barenwald (Bainbridge, Ohio) finished in the same spot in the outdoor shot put. Junior Cory Smith (Bucyrus, Ohio), who holds the indoor school record with a score of 3235 in the heptathlon, finished seventh in the javelin throw at the outdoor meet.
Other OAC placers returning include senior Benjamin Herbert (Bainbridge Township, Ohio), who finished seventh in the 800-meter indoor run, and junior Andrew Appelt (Canal Winchester, Ohio) and sophomore Corey Easley (Columbus, Ohio), who were part of a 4x100-meter relay team that finished sixth at the outdoor meet. Appelt is the indoor school record holder in the 60-meter dash (7.19).
Women
The women's team includes a roster of seven seniors, nine juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen, and looks to move up even further in the OAC standings with a strong, veteran core.
Senior distance runner Emma McCarron (Mansfield, Ohio), a two-time national qualifier for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, is Capital's lone returning conference champion after winning the 1-mile run at the indoor meet. She currently holds indoor school records in three individual events and two relays, and has also challenged for conference titles throughout during the last two seasons in the 1,000-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter races.
Senior Emily Sheets (Gahanna, Ohio; at left), a competitor in multiple events, won the high jump at the 2011 OAC Outdoor Championships and placed in the top six in three events (javelin, discus, high jump) last spring. She is currently the school-record holder in the indoor and outdoor high jump as well as the indoor pentathlon (2638) and outdoor discus (138-07.00).
Senior sprinter Aimee Hall (Amanda, Ohio), sophomore sprinter/jumper Rachel Trautman (Hilliard, Ohio) and sophomore runner Jessi Knoll (Willard, Ohio) also return as multiple individual event placers. Hall finished fifth in the 200-meter indoor race, seventh in the 60-meter dash and fourth in both the 100- and 200-meter outdoor events, while Trautman placed seventh in the triple jump (indoor), fifth in the long jump (indoor) and sixth in the long jump (outdoor). Knoll was sixth in the indoor 1-mile run and third in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles.
Other returning OAC scorers include senior runner Casey Simmons (Beavercreek, Ohio), a fourth-place finisher in the indoor 400-meter dash, junior Jessie Plaster (Bucyrus, Ohio), who finished eighth in the indoor high jump, and junior Caitlin Prange (Columbus, Ohio), who earned All-OAC honors with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
Capital also expects to be competitive in several relays, with McCarron, Hall, Knoll, Simmons and Prange all returning to relay teams that finished fifth or higher at last season's conference championship meets. Last year's 4x400 outdoor group, which included Hall and Prange, set a school record and barely missed out on qualifying for the NCAAs with the No. 26 time in the nation.
