Elijha Owens is an accomplished hurdler. It takes a lot to tire him out.
There's another climb that doesn't fatigue Owens either. That's when he mounts the awards stand. Don't snicker. He spends a good portion of every meet doing that.
Friday (May 2) at the GLIAC outdoor track and field championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, Owens handled the hurdles and the walk to the awards stand with ease. He was named the GLIAC track athlete of the year and he helped the AU men finish second in the team standings.
The AU women also placed second. This three-day event concluded on Friday.
Owens won the 110 hurdles in 13.96. That's a GLIAC record, breaking the mark of 14:04 he established last year. Owens also won the 400 hurdles in 51.43.
Owens was on two conference championship relays. He joined forces with Cory Lamar, Brandon Freeman and Jacob Cook on the 4X1 quartet that won in 41.33. He was part of the 4X4 relay that won in 3:12.51. His mates on that run were Waquiem Comar, Drew Windle and Cook.
Finally, Owens got the Eagles some points in the 100. His time there was 10.98.
The AU men finished with 171 points. The Lakers won with 207.5 points and Tiffin was third with 100 points. A year ago in Ashland the AU men won the conference championship.
The Grand Valley State women won the team title with 185.5 points. Next came the Eagles with 120 points, followed by Tiffin with 90 points. The men's field consisted of 14 teams and 15 teams were after the women's championship.
The AU men got a strong showing in the discus on Friday. Chris Powell won the first conference championship of his career. His best mark was 177-0. Kyle Steinhauser was second (175-11), Jason Zahn was fourth (172-2) and James Clay Harris was fifth (168-3).
Windle won the GLIAC champonship in the 1500 (3:51.78). The junior was second in the 800 (1:50.87). Brian Baum was third in the 1500 (3:51.90).
Lamar was fourth in the 200 (22.27) and 400 (48.48). Brandon Freeman finished fifth in the 200 (22.43) and Cook was third in the 400 (48.00).
For the women, Macy Caldwell was third in the 100 hurdles (13.94). Jamie Sindelar was second in the discus (159-6) and Jennifer Bjelac was second in the long jump (18-10.50). Jennifer Foster was second in the pole vault (13-6.50).
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