Flashes men and women lose first dual meet by close scores

The Kent State track and field teams fell to its rival Akron in a dual meet Friday at the Kent State Field House. Akron won by final scores of 75-73 and 78.5-72.5 on the men’s and women’s sides, respectively.

Sophomore Diana Dumitrescu led the women’s team by placing in three events — third in the 60-meter hurdles, second in the long jump and first in the triple jump with a jump of 39 feet, 4.5 inches.

Senior sprinter Juliet Alrich won and improved her time in the 400-meter dash by finishing in 57.67 seconds. Senior middle distance runner Jessica Lhotsky was victorious in the 800 with a time of 2:14.37. Alrich and Lhotsky later teamed with senior Rachel Crafton and sophomore Tiffany Jones to win the 1,600 relay in 3:55.97.

The Kent State men also triumphed in its relay, with junior Matt Moffett, senior Curtis Eaton Jr., freshman Javon Walker and junior Destin Heasley running a time of 3:14.59 to finish ahead of the Zips by more than two seconds.

Moffett also won the 400 with a time of 48.63, and Heasley came first in the 800 in 1:51.33. Both finished less than a second ahead of the second-place Akron athlete in their respective races.

In the men’s high jump, sophomore Dean Wood and freshman Kenneth Agee finished atop the results and also reached NCAA provisional qualifying marks by clearing 7’0.25”.

Junior Scott Hilditch placed in his two events, winning the mile in 4:14.85 and finishing second in the 3,000 behind senior teammate Aiman Scullion’s 8:20 time.

The track teams will head to Mount Pleasant, Mich., this weekend for a Saturday invitational with Eastern Michigan and host Central Michigan.

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