TF2K22: Cold Day in Cincinnati

This year's Oliver Nikoloff Invitational, hosted by University of Cincinnati took place on the first weekend of April, which is usually not a warm time in Ohio.

The previous two meets had a lot of sunshine with bearable early spring weather for the competitors and spectators. This year, while it could have been worse, the Cincinnati weather was not the most ideal for track and field. The temperature was in the 40s and the sky remained gray. To sum it up, it was a bit cold.

Still, there were some talented performers on the track and they were victorious as expected. One of those was Chante Clinkscale of Dayton. The freshman who won gold at the Atlantic 10 indoor championship meet in the 60 and 200 meters, earned her first collegiate win in the 100 meters with a finish of 12.06. The sprinters in that race had a disadvantage running against a -3.9 headwind. Clinkscale edged out Kentucky's Kaylyn Heath who finished second at 12.18 and Wayne State's Makayla Sumrall's third place time of 12.30.

Cincinnati's Faith Banks earned a win for the host school in the 400 meters. The senior earned her first outdoor collegiate 400 meters win by running a career best time of 53.33 despite the cold air. That finish currently ranks 22nd in the NCAA. Banks also earned wins as a member of the 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay. Banks is coming off of an indoor season where she won the silver medal in the 400 meters at the American Athletic indoor championship meet.

All-American Ellie Leather won the 800 meters for Cincinnati, running a strong time of 2:05.76, which is 18th in the NCAA. Leather, who also competed on the winning 1,600-meter relay team, had a dominant indoor season. She earned three golds at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, taking the 800 meters, mile and competing as one fourth of the distance medley relay. Leather also placed third at the NCAA indoor championships in the mile.

Hurdler Victoria Abunaw earned another win for host Cincinnati as she took the 100-meter hurdles for the second straight season. Last year in a warmer temperature she won at 13.90, over the past weekend Abunaw took the victory at 13.87. She was the only competitor in the field of 24 to finish the event under 14 seconds.

Miami took the other hurdles races as Sarah Bruns won the 400-meter hurdles at 1:01.47 and Julia Rushing took the 3,000 steeplechase at 10:41.71. Bruns earned her first win in the 400-meter hurdles since the 2019 season. Rushing earned her second career win in the steeplechase, last winning at the 2021 Kentucky Invitational.

Cincinnati freshman Nadia Collins took her first win in the long jump with a mark of 5.92. Collins hit her winning mark on the first attempt and was the only competitor to jump past 5.70. Last year's winner Anaya Dees hit placed second to her teammate at 5.69 which she landed on her final attempt.

Kennedy Marable was fourth in the long jump at 5.57, but did her usual by winning the triple jump at 12.68. She has won the event at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational three times over her career, taking wins in 2019 and 2021. The meet was cancelled in 2020 as there was no season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bowling Green's Zaresha Neal took wins in both the discus and shot put events. She won the shot put at 15.29, which she got on her fifth out of six attempts. Neal was the only competitor to throw over 15 meters in a field of 27 throwers. In the discus, Neal hit a mark of 52.37, finishing ahead of Cincinnati's Jane Sensibaugh's second place throw of 50.09. During the indoor season, Neal won the shot put at the Mid-American Conference indoor championship meet. She also qualified to throw at the NCAA championships where she placed 13th.