ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jordan Dean earned his first career All-America honor Saturday afternoon during the NCAA Division III National Championships at the Polisseni Track and Field Complex at St. John Fisher University.
Dean finished in eighth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.03 seconds.
Dean qualified for finals with a time of 46.93 Friday, just off his school record of 46.85.
“I’m really proud of Jordan. To leave here with a trophy is always the goal, and to do it at his first national meet is really impressive,” ONU head coach Jason Maus said of Dean’s performance.
Also on the track Saturday was the 400-meter relay team of Spencerville graduate Vini Souza, Dean. Hunter Kesler and Ollie Jacobs. The team finished in eighth place with a time of 41.71 but was disqualified after the race for an unsportsmanlike conduct violation.
“Obviously this is a really disappointing way to end our season, but those guys have so much to be proud of,” Maus said. “They put in a ton of work to get here and ran really well all year. They broke the school record three different times. I know they will look back on this accomplishment and be very proud.”
The team finished the season with a best time of 40.72, which is the program record.
Women’s golf
UNOH’s Wuermli finishes 14th at NAIA championship
SILVIS, IL — As the NAIA Championship wrapped up Friday, the University of Northwestern Ohio’s Zoe Wuermli watched from the clubhouse to see if her final score of 306 (+22) would hold. Two other players joined her in the 14th position, but Wuermli’s score would be good enough to keep her in the top 15 on the national stage.
After carding a 77 and a 79 the first two rounds, Wuermli sat right on the final cut line and survived to play through the final two rounds, the first Racer to accomplish that feat since 2019. Wuermli took advantage of her second chance bringing in a 76 in round three before finishing with a 74 in round four, jumping 26 spots into a tie for 14th.
In the first 72-hole tournament of her career on the biggest stage the NAIA provides, Wuermli posted the program’s second lowest score of all-time (292 – Caitriona Griffin & Devaki Ganesh). She shaved more than two and a half strokes off her season average from last season with a 76.42 in her sophomore campaign, the third best in program history. After two seasons with the program, Wuermli currently holds the career average record by half a stroke, averaging 77.49 (Caitriona Griffin – 78.00).
