There was plenty to be excited about for the Men’s Indoor Track and Field team after they showed strength and versatility with a  145-point showing, taking first place in the meet at Otterbein University on Jan. 24. More impressively, they accomplished this with just under one month of preparation. 

After the disappointing ending to the 2020 season with the NCAA Division-III Indoor Track and Field Championships being canceled due to COVID-19, John Carroll’s runners came out with energy and momentum early on. This translated to receiving first-place honors in five individual events and a first-place finish in the 4 x 400-meter relay on Sunday, Jan. 24 at the Ohio Athletic Conference Early Season Showcase. 

The Blue Streaks competed against conference opponents including Capital University, Ohio Northern University, Otterbein University and Wilmington University. 

From the get-go, senior Deven Ward proved himself to be one of the top runners in the division again by kicking off his senior campaign with first-place finishes in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash. 

Junior sprinter Zach Gerber followed Ward’s first-place finish by carrying the hurdlers to a first-place finish in the 60-meter hurdle event with a time of 8.81 seconds. 

John Carroll continued the theme of domination in the 400-meter dash. The Blue Streaks stacked the podium with all five runners taking the top five spots. The finishing order was junior Garrett Clark, sophomore Mick Doyle, senior Bobby Fogle, junior Mark Zahren and sophomore Cameron Klauke. 

On the distance side, in the 5K event sophomore, Alex Phillip took home gold medal honors with a time of 14:33.65, earning a new school record and the second-fastest current time in the country. Senior Jamie Dailey and junior Jared Arnold also finished in the top five with fourth- and fifth-place finishes, respectively. 

The first-place 4 x 400-meter relay team finished with a time of 3:37.87. The members of the 4-x 400 squad were freshmen Caleb Correia and Cormac Kramer-Peppard, junior James Mangan and junior Gabe Ernest.

Senior Ian Pierson was another member scheduled to compete at nationals in 2020. Pierson’s first race of the 2021 season resulted in a second-place finish in the 1,000-meter race. Junior Pat White came in shortly after with a fourth-place finish. 

One of the biggest takeaways from the day was the amount of talent the Blue Streaks have in the class of 2024. Correia took first place in the men’s 800-meter. This was his first race as a member of the Blue Streaks squad. Ernest competed in the men’s 800-meter race for the first time in his collegiate career and earned second place.

Ethan Domitrovich, another successful freshman, took the best honors for the Blue Streaks, grabbing a fourth place in the mile race. Senior Jake Darby and junior Sam Coe took fourth and fifth places respectively. 

Freshman runner Jimmy Kartsonas showed promising abilities as well for the Blue Streaks finishing in the top five in the 60-meter dash. On the field side, Kartsonas took second place in the long jump with a mark of 6.55 meters. 

Senior Joe McNulty made a fourth-place finish in the shot put event with a mark of 13.26 meters. 

The Blue Streaks were led by Kyle Basista, who returns for his sixth season of guiding the Blue Streaks running program. 

Next Saturday, Jan. 30, the Blue Streaks will travel to Ohio Northern University in Ada for another OAC meet. They will compete against Baldwin Wallace and Ohio Northern universities. The time is currently TBA and will be posted on jcusports.com later in the week.