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Interesting Talents of the Jesse Owens Track Classic Prepare for Action

Eppinger Returns to the Stadium of Her 2007 State Championship

By Winners OnlyPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Kaylon Eppinger

This weekend the Jesse Owens Track Classic will take place at Jesse Owens Stadium, in Columbus, Ohio on the campus of Ohio State.

Winners Only is here to provide you with a handful of talents to check out during the two-day meet that takes place April 26-27.

Kaylon Eppinger–Pro Runner, 100-Meter Hurdles

Kaylon Eppinger

Eppinger will compete in the same venue where she won the 2007 state championship in the 100-meter hurdles. Since those days, Eppinger has gone on to compete on the collegiate level at Cincinnati before transferring to Alabama where she became one of the top heptathlon competitors in the NCAA.

During this year's indoor season Eppinger earned 100-meter hurdles wins at the Findlay Open (8.59), Akron Invitational (8.43) and Zips Invitational (8.50). She looks to improve on her 2019 outdoor debut, where she placed 18th (14.47) at Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz.

Cassandra Lloyd–Pro Runner, 100-Meter Hurdles

Cassandra Lloyd

Lloyd's winning has been noted by Winners Only before, but she has continued her victorious ways, so we must sing her praises once more. So far in 2019 Lloyd has run in nine hurdles heats during indoor and outdoor seasons, and she has won all of them. In fact she hasn't lost a heat in the 60- or 100-meter hurdles since 2017. Her latest win was at the Ball State Challenge, when she took first place with a time of 13.78.

Last season, she won the 100-meter hurdles at the Jesse Owens Track Classic, finishing ahead of Ohio State's Chantel Ray at 13.50. The former Wright State standout also won at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational, in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a time of 13.82.

Morgan Lewis–Ohio State, Freshman, 100-Meter Hurdles

Morgan Lewis

After fighting through injuries during indoor season, Lewis is working to find her way back to top form. She earned a second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the LSU Battle on the Bayou, with a time of 13.53. She followed that performance by running 13.46 in a sixth place finish at the Gamecock Invitational, in Columbia, S.C.

Lewis' indoor highlights include a victory, as she kicked off the indoor season with a 60-meter hurdles win (8.46) at the Simmon-Harvey Big Ten Invitational in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She came back from injury to compete at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, where she placed fifth at 8.40.

Micah Johnston–Eastern Michigan, Junior, 400-Meter dash

Micah Johnston

As Johnston prepares for the MAC championship meet, she continues her solid and steady season into the Jesse Owens Track Classic. The junior placed third at the MAC Indoor Championships (53.70), and has since earned a second place finish (54.65) at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta, and a third place result at the Tennessee Relays (54.06), which was a personal best.

Johnston's lone 400-meter dash win, so far as a junior, came at the GVSU Holiday Open, in Allendale, Mich, where she ran 55.62, during indoor season. At last year's Jesse Owens Meet Johnston placed fifth at 54.58.

Soleyn Bliss–Ohio State, Senior, 100-Meter dash

Soleyn Bliss

Bliss takes runs at her home course for the final time, so it will be interesting to see how she performs. She enters the weekend with the fourth best 100-meter dash time in the Big Ten at 11.57, which was recorded at the Gamecock Invitational, where she placed 10th out of 68 sprinters.

Bliss is a native of Antigua and Barbuda, and she is the number one rated runner in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Heather Conger–Pro Runner, 800-Meter Run

Heather Conger

Conger is an interesting story. She just turned 30 in January, and last competed at the Jesse Owens Track Classic during her junior season at Bowling Green in 2010. She ran the 800-meter run to a time of 2:18.43, placing 37th out of 55 runners.

Her all-time best time was recorded during her senior season, when she ran 2:11.01 at the EMU Twilight meet in Ypsilanti, Mich. She placed sixth (2:14.57) at the 2011 MAC Conference Championships, in her final race as a student athlete. Conger's most recent 800-meter race according to IAAF was a runner-up finish (2:29.02) at the Akron Campbell/Wright Invitational in 2017.

Aurora Turner–Wright State, Senior, 5000-Meter run

Aurora Turner

Entering the event with the third best time in the Horizon League (16:50.45), Turner looks to upset Ohio State's Christine Frederick and Lainey Studebaker, who are the favorites.

Turner had a strong showing during the Horizon League Indoor Championships where she finished second in the 5000-meter run at 16:48.69. At last year's Jesse Owens meet, Turner competed in the 3000-Steeplechase where she placed 10th.

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