The Kenyon men’s and women’s track and field teams continued their seasons on the road this past weekend at Wittenberg University for the Steemer Showcase. At the meet, the men’s team took 15th place out of 22 schools with 18 points while the women’s team finished in 16th out of 21 teams with 12 points.

Men: The meet kicked off with the 5,000-meter race, the longest event of the day. Despite narrowly missing the opportunity to score his team points, Colt Murphy ’26 was the Owls’ top finisher, taking 17th place with a time of 15:28.07. Close behind him were Owen Rodstrom ’26 in 21st place (15:37.79) and Caleb Low ’28 in 23rd place (15:38.82). Next up on the track for the Owls was Charlie Blackmer ’28, who was Kenyon’s standout at the meet, running the 800-meter in 1:53.50 to claim a second-place finish in a field of 92 other competitors. Blackmer’s outstanding time gave Kenyon its first eight points of the day. Soon after Blackmer’s first race, he returned to the track with Josh Greville ’26, Kudzaishe Mhere ’28 and Julius Thompson ’26, where the four teammates earned the Owls’ other 10 points with the top finish in the 4×400-meter relay (3:21.31). 

In the field events, Graham Yeager ’28 was the first up for Kenyon in the weight throw, and his toss of 13.80 meters secured him 23rd place. Yeager also took 44th place in the shot put (11.50). Two Owls recorded impressive finishes in the long jump, as Greville’s leap of 12.27 meters and Zavier McGhee ’29’s jump of 12.00 meters earned them 11th and 13th place, respectively. McGhee followed up this performance with a 16th-place finish in the high jump competition (1.80).

Women: Olivia Ide ’27 kickstarted the day for the Owls with a 17th-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (18:56.11). Kenyon’s first points of the weekend came in the 800-meter race, where Anna Brown ’26 finished third, taking bronze and six points for the Owls’ total after coming in at 2:16.44. Brown’s time was less than half of a second after the second-place finisher. Right after, Noa Helmbrecht ’28 secured a 15th-place finish in the 200-yard dash, with margins so slim that she was half of a second away from earning a crucial point for the Owls. Kenyon’s other six points of the weekend came in the relays, as the foursome of Ari Sobel ’28, Addilyn Tober ’28, Helmbrecht and Brown earned a third-place result in the 4×400-meter relay.

While the Owls didn’t earn any points in the field events, some notable names still put up key performances. In the weight throw, Penelope Artemis ’28 had a toss of 12.63 meters that was good enough for 21st place, while Kenna Kinsch ’29 cracked the top 30 as well, finishing in 29th (11.61 meters). Artemis continued to lead the way in the shot put, coming in 18th at 10.64 meters. 

Up next, both teams will head to Granville to face Denison University on Saturday. Last season at the same meet, both teams tied for seventh place.