CEDARVILLE — Cedarville University is expecting more than 700 athletes on campus Saturday, March 30 with the annual Yellow Jacket Collegiate Open getting the outdoor track & field season under way.
Action is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m, rain or shine. It could be an interesting day with thunderstorms in the forecast. The pole vault competition has already been moved inside the Doden Field House.
Representatives from 16 varsity programs and five clubs as well as unattached athletes make up the field of participants.
This is the only outdoor meet the Yellow Jackets will be hosting in 2019.
Colleges and Universities scheduled to compete: Anderson; Cedarville; Cincinnati; Cincinnati Christian; Defiance; Miami; Ohio Christian; Rio Grande; Siena Heights; St. Scholastica; Ursuline; Walsh; Wayne State; Wilmington; Wittenberg; Wright State.
Club teams scheduled to compete: Dukes Track Club; Runners Plus Elite; Toledo Cross & Track Club; UC Running Club; Bowman Throws.
NORMAN CHASING WORLD RECORD: As an added bonus, Cedarville University junior distance runner Grace Norman has earned approval from the International Paralympic Committee to establish the paralympic world record for the 5,000-meter run in the T-44 (below-knee amputee) catetory during Saturday’s event. The Paralympics gold medalist and former World No. 1-ranked paratriathlete is seeded with the 12th fastest 5,000-meter time (18:43.36) out of a field of 34 able bodied competitors for Saturday’s 4 p.m. race.
Norman, a gold medalist at the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016 and a two-time former world champion, is currently ranked No. 2 in the world among PTS5 paratriathlon competitors.
