SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- The Kenyon College men's indoor track and field team racked up six top-10 finishes at the All-Ohio Championship, which Wittenberg University hosted. It was the Owls' third visit to Springfield, Ohio, in six outings this season, and Kenyon racked up 10 points across the five events in which they competed in the finals.

The Owls finished in a three-way tie for 11th place in the 14-team standings. The University of Mount Union paced the field with 226.5 points, while Kenyon's fellow North Coast Athletic Conference members The College of Wooster (74) and Denison University (57) rounded out the top three.

Tapiwa Gono Phiri recorded the Owls' best finish of the day and was part of four of the team's six top-10 finishes. The sophomore crossed fourth in the 60-meter dash after clocking a 7.07, scoring five points for Kenyon. Gono Phiri was also part of Kenyon's two ninth-place relay teams in the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relay.

Julius Thompson, a first-year, joined Gono Phiri in the 200-meter dash, and the Owls finished back-to-back in a photo finish. Thompson crossed the finish line in 22.72 seconds, edging out Gono Phiri (22.73) by a hair as the teammates finished seventh and eighth.


Three Kenyon relay teams notched top-10 finishes, and the longest race produced the Owls' best result. In the 4000-meter distance medley relay, Dylan Sibbitt, William Wilson, Jimmy Baker, and Owen Rodstrom teamed up to take seventh with a time of 11:30.58.

The same Kenyon quartet of Emmanuel Makelele, Gono Phiri, Collin Witt, and Thompson finished ninth in both the 4x200- and 4x400-meter relays. The squad clocked in at 1:33.21 in the 200-meter iteration before running a 3:31.93 in the 400-meter relay.

Next, the Owls will host the Kenyon Invitational in Gambier, Ohio, at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15.