INDIANAPOLIS – Malone junior Ashton Dulin and Findlay junior Austin Combs were named Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Indoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week on Tuesday.
Short sprint records were threatened in the newest week of competition as previous Great Midwest Track Athletes of the Week Todd Sekowski (Alderson Broaddus) and George Effah (Findlay) shined.
Sekowski posted the third-best time in the 60-meter dash (6.91) while Effah had the same placement in the 200-meter run (22.30). Walsh’s Mark Hadley had the season’s best time in the 3K while Cedarville outdoor national champ Daniel Michalski debuted in the mile.
Field events had some season-best marks toppled as well. Findlay freshman Martin Etsey took down the Great Midwest triple jump record at the Tiffin Dragon Open while Jared Schipper (Hillsdale) cleared the top height in the league this year in pole vault.
Combs now has the top marks in both shot put and weight throw in the conference record books.
Track Athlete of the Week
Ashton Dulin
Malone
Sprints/Hurdles
Junior
Reynoldsburg, OH (Reynoldsburg HS)
Dulin shattered a resilient record that has stood the test of time for four years – the 60-meter hurdles at the Youngstown State Invitational. He completed the event in a time 8.09, three hundredths of a second better than Central State’s Malik Lewis in 2014.
The reigning G-MAC Indoor/Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, Dulin and the Pioneers are on a mission to defend their men’s indoor conference title from a year ago.
This is his sixth career conference track athlete of the week honor since Malone joined the G-MAC in 2016-17. He also had a breakout season on the football field for Malone with over 1,000 yards receiving and 10 touchdown catches.
Dulin holds conference indoor championship records in the 55-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash and long jump.
Field Athlete of the Week
Austin Combs
Findlay
Throws
Junior
Findlay, OH (Liberty-Benton HS)
Combs, already a two-time NCAA All-American in the weight throw, is destined for bigger and better things following his eye-opening start to the indoor season for the nationally-ranked Oilers program.
The homegrown product smashed another conference record – that much more impressive considering Malone’s Duke Taylor was dominating the throws cage just a year ago.
He auto qualified in the shot put, a distance that now ranks second nationally in all of Division II. Combs recorded a distance of 18.20m (59’ 8.5”).
Three different Great Midwest throwers have provisionally qualified for nationals, including Combs, Dequan Lovell (Findlay) and Dante Penza (Walsh).
Combs has also auto qualified in weight throw at the Oiler Opener back in December. He is currently the top mark in all of Division II going into a new week of competition.