GENEVA, Ohio - Webster University's
Jacob Ridenhour (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) capped off his outstanding sophomore campaign here Saturday afternoon by finishing runner-up in the 200-meter dash at the 2019 NCAA Division Track and Field Championships held at the SPIRE Institute.
Ridenhour, who ran the fifth fastest qualifying time in the 200 meters in Thursday's preliminaries, recorded a school record time of 21.07 to finish the race in second place and earn National Runner-up honors. When the race was completed, Ridenhour was in third place, but the winner of the race, Baldwin Wallace's Jordan Leverette was disqualified for stepping on the inside line three times in a row during the race and that pushed Ridenhour into second place behind Principia's Corey Carter, who ran a time of 20.89 to win the event.Â
With his second place finish, Ridenhour made history as he becomes the first-ever All-American in men's track in school history. Additionally, Ridenhour second place finish gave Webster eight points in the meet as they finished tied for 34th place. It marked the first time Webster had ever scored in track and field at the National Championships.Â
In fact, the top finishers in Saturday's 200 meters were all from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as Greenville's Jeremiah Davis ran a time of 21.08 to finish in third place. Oneonta's Tyler O'Bryant was fourth with a time of 21.24 and John Carroll's Deven Ward was fifth with a time of 21.30.
The other three finishers were Adrian's Randolph Fry (6th, 21.33), Loras' Patrick Mikel (7th, 21.35) and Texas Lutheran's Darren Jones (8th, 21.48).Â
It was the second time this school year that Ridenhour competed in the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships as he qualified during the indoor season in the 60-meter dash as the NCAA Championships, he finished tied for 11th overall and missed qualifying by less than two-hundredths of a second.Â
During the outdoor season, Ridenhour set new school records in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes and also ran on the school's two relay teams - 4-x-100 and 4-x-400, that set new school marks.Â