Tiffin University sent three Dragon athletes to the 2008 Division II Outdoor Championships, and the trio did not disappoint. Jeremy Lee, Ramone Brant, and Keith Reiter all finished the invitational with a higher ranking than they entered, with Jeremy Lee’s performance in the 1500 meter run earning him NCAA All-American honors.
Lee, a sophomore from Wauseon, Ohio, entered the championships as the fifth seed in the 1500 meter run. In the qualifying round, Lee posted a 3:51.53 time, tying him for the fourth best mark heading into the finals. In the twelve-man final, Lee finished the run in 3:50.52, giving him third place behind Aaron Braun of Adams State (3:48.81) and Angel Marquez of Cal. St. Chico (3:50.29), both juniors. Lee was the only runner from the Great Lakes Region to finish top-ten in the event, with Ashland’s Max Hiltner finishing 11th.
In the men’s pole vault event, junior Keith Reiter finished in tenth place with a mark of 4.88 meters. Reiter entered the event as the 18th seed, and had the biggest improvement out of the three Dragons. Grand Valley State’s Bryant Wilson earned top honors in the event, while Ashland’s Dan Tierney finished in second place.
In the men’s 110 meter hurdles, Ramone Brant entered the championships as the 11th seed out of a sixteen-man field. Brant finished fourth in his five-man preliminary heat on Friday with a time of 14.51 seconds. Brant’s time gave him the tenth-best time out of the field, but missed competing in the nine-man finals on Saturday by .14 seconds. Brant finished with the best time of any Great Lakes regional athlete, with Ashland’s Alan Dunson finishing 14th.