GENEVA, Ohio — This past weekend, SPIRE Institute and Academy in Ashtabula County welcome the NCAA Division III men's and women's outdoor track and field championships to its sparkling facilities. Appropriately, it was a banner occasion for several athletes from right here in Northeast Ohio.
Both John Carroll and Mount Union combined to win four individual or relay titles, with the Purple Raiders' Kennady Gibbins starring with a victory in the women's heptathlon. In addition, the Blue Streaks placed second in the men's team event behind Wisconsin-Eau Claire, their best finish ever in the event.
A native of Navarre in Stark County, Gibbins improved on her seventh-place finish in last year's heptathlon to take the 2022 title with a score of 5,244, well ahead of runner-up Hannah Zenkovich from Wisconsin-LaCrosse. The senior's performance was buoyed by first-place standings in the high jump, shot put, and 200-meter dash. She was also an All-American by virtue of the 400-meter relay team's No. 4 finish, as well as in the individual high jump event.
The Mount Union women's team placed sixth overall, while the men were seventh. Besides Gibbins, the men's 400-meter relay squad of Matthew McBride (Conneaut High School), Jared Storm (Barberton), Tyler Gill, and Justin Knoch (GlenOak) took the championship in that event by just over 1/2 a second over Rowan.
For JCU, Akron native Alex Phillip won the men's 10,000-meter competition with a time of 30:02.53, more than two minutes clear of his teammate Jamie Dailey. Dailey, of Bay Village, earned the title in the 5,000 meters.
Besides those listed above, a combined 15 additional athletes from both schools as well as Baldwin Wallace earned All-America honors over the weekend. They are:
Men
- Garrett Clark (John Carroll/Walsh Jesuit/Aurora) - 200-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay
- Ethan Domitrovich (John Carroll) - 3,000-meter steeplechase
- Mick Doyle (John Carroll) - 100-meter relay
- Cormac Peppard-Kramer (John Carroll/Lakewood) 3,000-meter steeplechase
- Jimmy Kartsonas (John Carroll) - 100-meter relay
- Tanner Slack (Mount Union) - high jump
- Mark Zahren (John Carroll) - 100-meter relay
Women
- Kelsey Dunn (John Carroll/Twinsburg) - discus
- Alyssa Laughner (Baldwin Wallace) - 3,000-meter steeplechase
- Mary Mason (Mount Union/Marlington) - 400-meter relay
- Brit McCauley (Mount Union/Ontario) - 1,500 meters
- Madison Miles (Mount Union/Padua Franciscan/Parma) - 400-meter dash and 400-meter relay
- Hope Murphy (Baldwin Wallace/Mogadore) - 1,500 meters
- Lauren Roncone (Mount Union/North Canton Hoover) - long jump
- Kenadee Wayt (Mount Union) - 400-meter relay
