Yellow Jackets Athletics Weekend Rewind
Written by: Hailey Krawczyk
The Defiance College campus was buzzing with excitement this weekend, with multiple Yellow Jacket athletic events taking place. The highlight being the on-campus contests for Men’s and Women’s Basketball against fellow Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) opponent, Rose-Hulman Fighting Engineers.
Additionally, Yellow Jacket Wrestling competed at the Mid-States Invite at Ohio Northern University (ONU) in Ada, Ohio. Men’s and Women’s track rounded out the weekend at the All-Ohio Championships at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.
Women’s basketball hosted the Fighting Engineers of Rose-Hulman on Saturday, February 12, in the Karl H. Weaner Center. Prior to tip-off, the Yellow Jackets honored their three seniors, Briawana Francis, Taylor Day, and Nysha Speed. Each senior has made their mark on the Women’s Basketball Program over the past four years. Shortly after the Senior Day
ceremony, the Yellow Jackets tipped off and started strong, taking a 13-8 lead over the Fighting Engineers. The teams entered the second quarter, fighting tooth and nail with another.
The Yellow Jackets prevailed by using a 7-0 scoring run to take the lead from the Fighting Engineers back. The Yellow Jackets hung on to their lead for the majority of the second half as the Engineers began to test the Jackets. The Yellow Jackets were able to hold on and answered with an 8-0 run to lead with two minutes left in the contest. Key factors in the Senior Day win include Speed leading the Yellow Jackets with 11 points and 3 rebounds, the Jackets leading the way with 16 assists, and the bench outscoring the Fighting Engineers 27-12.
Following the Women’s game on Saturday, the Men’s Basketball team also celebrated their two seniors before tip-off. Seniors Marell Jordan and Tyler Andrew were honored prior to the game. Both seniors have contributed a great deal to the Men’s Basketball program over the past 4 years.
The Yellow Jackets fought hard against the Engineers. Both teams battled every possession. At the end of the half, the Fighting Engineers had taken a one-point advantage over the Yellow Jackets with a score of 32-31. The Fighting Engineers stung the Yellow Jackets during the start of the second half, coming out strong with an 8-point lead. The Jackets held their
composure together and started their run of 16-6 to regain the lead with eight minutes left in the contest. The Yellow Jackets worked together to stay strong the rest of the game, completing the sweep over the Fighting Engineers with a final score of 64-57. Key factors to this win include
a 25-point performance from Jordan, an 8-point performance from Andrew, and an 11-point performance from Junior Dejsani Beamon, who also added 4 assists.
Yellow Jacket Wrestling hit the road this past Saturday to compete in the Mid-States Invite at ONU. The Yellow Jackets placed 6 out of 8 teams competing with a final of 50.5 points. Wabash College (Crawfordsville, IN) won the invite with a total of 193 points.
Key performances from the Yellow Jacket Wrestling Squad include Seniors Alex Smith, Cortez Bradley, and Mason Morris, all placing in their respective weight classes. Smith placed fourth in the 141lbs bracket, Bradley placed fourth in the 157lbs bracket, and Morris placed fifth in the 197lbs bracket. Junior Alejandro Castro won two of his matches in the 157lbs contest.
Rounding out key performances includes Senior Rigo Villa, Junior Seth Bowman, and Sophomore Jonah Schlegal each winning matches at 285lbs. You can catch more Yellow Jacket Wrestling on Wednesday, February 16, as the Jackets are hosting an HCAC Dual against Manchester University (Manchester, IN) and Mount St. Joseph University (Cincinnati, OH). The Yellow Jackets will be honoring their seniors before the start of the contest! Be sure to come out and celebrate!
Rounding out the weekend, Yellow Jacket Track and Field traveled to Otterbein University to compete. The Women’s team placed 15th out of 16 teams, and the Men’s team placed 18th out of 18 teams. The University of Mount Union (Alliance, OH) took the contest in both Men’s and Women’s with 187 points and 186.5 points.
Key performances from the Yellow Jackets include Freshman Traci Cross placing seventh in the Women’s 60 meters in 8.12 seconds, earning two points for the Yellow Jackets. Seniors Lisa Markau and Katelyn Smith and Junior Destiney Oshodin placed eighth in the 4×200 meter relay with a time of 1:54:78 to earn a point.
Sophomore Tawon Cannon placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdles, which earned 5 points for the Yellow Jackets. Junior Ja’Qway Janvier finished ninth with a time of 23:06 in the 200 meters.
You can catch more Track and Field on February 19, as the Jackets host the 2022 HCAC Indoor Track Championships at the George M. Smart Center at 1:00 pm.
