In all, the Cardinals tallied five event victories, 21 personal-best efforts and 29 top five finishes at Saturday's meet for its best showing of the young season.
Senior MaryKate Mellen continued her strong season by placing first in the mile run (5:08.38), placing second in the 3,000m run (10:26.89 which ties her career-best time) and running anchor for the first-place distance medley relay (12:26.83).
Mellen was joined on the winning DMR by freshman Katelyn DeVries, senior Emilee Zets and sophomore Courtney Edon. Edon would join Mellen as a two-event winner by taking home the title in the 3,000m run (10:23.99), while DeVries turned in a career-fast clocking of 2:22.15 to place second in the 800m run.
BSU's fourth distance event victory came from senior Allison Blanck who took home the title in the 5,000m run by crossing the finish line in 18:57.13.
Ball State's fifth event victory came in the triple jump, with freshman Zenée Gadson turning in a career-best leap of 11.39m/37-4.5 to win the event by 0.99m/3-3. Gadson would also place 10th in the long jump (5.17m/16-11.5) and ninth in the 60m dash (8.17)
The Ball State indoor track & field team returns to action Feb. 1-2, when it travels to Notre Dame, Ind., for the Meyo Invitational.
Bowling Green
Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green indoor track and field swept the top three spots in the 200 and 400, while placing first and third in the 60, as the Falcons hosted the Tom Wright Classic Friday night in Perry Field House. In all, Bowling Green won four events, took second in five events and finished third in eight more at the meet that included Miami (Ohio), Ohio and Wayne State.
One of the most impressive individual performances came in the 400, where senior Allison Weimer was more than a full second better than any other competitor and just missed the Mid-American Conference automatic qualifying mark with a time of 57.67. It was a personal best for Weimer just a week after posting a converted time of 57.75 at Michigan’s Simmons-Harvey Invitational for a personal best.
Freshman Berrion Berry continued to lower her 60 time, running a 7.94 in the prelims and then winning the finals with a time of 7.86. It marked the first time she ran a sub-8.00 second 60 in a Bowling Green uniform. Allorian Horne ended third in 7.97 seconds.
In the 200, Horne edged out teammate Felicia Jefferson with a time of 25.83 to take first place. Jefferson’s time of 25.84 was good enough for second, following by Kera Lamotte in third at 26.61.
The Falcons also won the 1600 relay as Natalie Sommerville, Jefferson, Brittany Sinclair and Weimer ran a 3:56.97 to beat their teammates across the line by more than three seconds.
In the weight throw, sophomore Brooke Pleger has won the event each time Bowling Green has competed, but she was given the weekend off. Instead, Kayla Velasquez and Nicolette Johnson stepped up to place second and third with tosses of 15.69 meters and 15.40 meters, respectively.
For the fourth consecutive meet, Demetra Taylor improved her personal best in the 60 hurdles. She ran a season best 9.08 in the prelims and then improved to 9.05 in the finals to finish second.
Bufffalo
GENEVA, OH – The University at Buffalo men's and women's track and field teams won eight events and posted seven second-place finishes as the SPIRE Midwest Open came to a conclusion on Saturday.
Brooklynn Ventura won the women's 60-meter hurdles in 8.53 seconds, just missing her school record by a hundredth of a second. Ventura was one of three Bulls in the finals as Kristina Arcury finished sixth in 9.11 and Sabrina Bush was ninth in 9.37.
Meghan Manley led a trio of women's finishers among the top five in the 800-meters. Manley turned in a season-best mark of 2:12.68 to win the race. Leah Wightman was third in 2:15.34 and Jackie Burns was fifth in 2:17.34, a season-best.
The UB women also took a pair of distance races. In the 3,000-meters, Kara Patrick won the race in 10:05.75, 15 seconds better than her previous best. Kaitlin McCadden (10:28.35) and Katie Sanders (10:30.28) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. In the 5,000-meters, Chrissy Clarkin won in 18:15.74.
In the throws, Shante' White led a trio of women to the top three slots in the weight throw. White won with a toss of 63-6 (19.35m) with Kristy Woods second at 57-6.25 (17.53m) and Erin Miller third at 55-6.50 (16.93m). Miller won the women's shot put with a toss of 45-10 (13.97m). Miller won the event on her final throw of six attempts.
Second-place finishes for the UB women included Shelby Janutol in the mile (5:03.54), Jasmine Thompson in the triple jump (35-1, 10.69m) and the 4x400-meter relay (3:50.52) of Crystal Graham, Donna Jeanty, Regine Lazard and Asher Beasley.
In the men's meet, Ryan Billian led four Bulls to the top seven spots in the 60-meter hurdles final. Billian won the race in 7.98 seconds, taking .16 seconds from his previous top mark. Jacob Wray was third at 8.35 with Brandon Borden fourth in 8.49 and Kevin Enck seventh in 8.84.
Austin Ashby and Tomarris Bell took the top two spots in the men's triple jump. Ashby won the competition with a season-best leap of 45-2.25 (13.77m), adding more than three feet to his top mark. Bell finished second at 43-11.25 (13.39m).
In the men's shot put, Jonathan Jones, Evan Palmer and Sean Harvey finished second, fourth and fifth, respectively, as they placed behind former UB All-American Rob Golabek, representing the Syracuse Chargers club program. Jones turned in a top throw of 60-8.50 (18.50m) for a new season-best. Palmer at 55-2 (16.81m) and Harvey at 51-8.25 (15.75m) also posted season-best throws. Golabek set a facility record with a winning throw of 64-5 (19.63m), more than a foot better than his UB school record.
Miles Lewis also finished second in the men's 60-meters in 6.87 seconds with Darien Johnson placing fourth in 7.00 seconds. Mike Morgan was second in the men's long jump at 21-8.25 (6.61m).
The Bulls will participate in the Penn State Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup next Saturday.
Central Michigan
ALLENDALE - The Central Michigan men's and women's track and field squads both finished third at the GVSU Quad Saturday.
Mid-American Conference foe, Eastern Michigan won the womem's side with a score of 166.50, followed by Grand Valley State (162), CMU (97) and Hillsdale finished with 67.5 points. On the men's side, GVSU won with score of 164.5, EMU came in second with 154.5, CMU with 124 and Hillsdale in fourth with 61 points.
"We still knew we didn't have people in their main events, we were not trying to double and triple up, we are trying to get things done for the next four weeks ahead.' Director of Track and Field, Willie Randolph said. "When it comes to scoring, Grand Valley and Eastern's focus and objectives were different than ours. We know that our main objective is being ready when it is important and the score needs to stick."
In the women's field events, three freshmen put together strong performances. Freshman Marsielle McBeam finished third in women's high jump with a height of 1.70m, qualifying for MAC Indoor Championships. Freshman Shaya Wilkerson won the triple jump with a leap of 11.57m and freshman Devene Brown took third in women's shot put with a throw of 13.42m.
On the track, Diamond Hamilton finished second in the women's 60m dash (7.74), and fourth in the 200 (25.21). Bridget Doughty finished second in the 400 (56.84).
Senior Maddie Ribant finished 5th in the mile (5:01.06).
Junior Krista Parks took third in 9:54.93 in the 3000m run, qualifying for MAC Championships.
On the track for the men's squad, junior Ryan Brooks bested teammate junior Ross Parsons to finish give the Chippewas the top two spots in the 60m dash. Brooks ran a 6.91, while Parsons ran a 6.92. Brooks time was a personal record and qualified him for the MAC championships.
Parsons also finished fourth in the 200m (22.22), with teammate junior Clay Holman right behind in fifth with a time of 22.23.
Nathan Sanchez took fourth in the 800m dash, with a personal record and qualifying time of 1:52.74.
Sophomores Kyle Stacks and Ethan Lievense finished second and third in the men's mile with new person best as Stack rans a 4:09.36 and Lievense a 4:10.03. Lievense's time qualified him for the MAC indoor championships.
Cory Noeker took second in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.25, freshman Chaz Bradshaw finished fourth (8.36), and Brandon Piligian set a new personal record, finishing sixth with a time of 8.40.
In the field events for the men's squad, sophomore Dee Smith finished second in the long jump with a leap of 6.94m. Senior Alex Rose took second in the shot put with a throw of 16.99m, a MAC Championship qualifying Mark
On Friday, at the Indiana Relays at the University of Indiana, senior Maddie Ribant, sophomores Ethan Lievense and Kyle Stacks all qualified for the MAC Championship in the 3000m race.
Ribant took fifth in the women's 3000m invitational run with a time of 9:45.25.
Stacks won the men's 3000m invitational run with a time of 8:18.81, also giving him a new personal best. Lievense finished fifth the same race with a time of 8:22.57, giving him a new personal record by almost six seconds.
"This weekend we mainly focused on being a team and working on chemistry to get things done moving forward."
Select Chippewas will be competing at the Meyo Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind.
Eastern Michigan
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University women's track and field team proved its No. 9 national rank in the Track and Field News Magazine's dual meet rankings by defeating three teams in the Grand Valley State University Quad , Saturday afternoon, Jan. 26, in the Kelly Family Sports Center.
Eastern's 166.50 points narrowly bested host Grand Valley State, who scored 162 points. Central Michigan took third with 97 points, and Hillsdale tallied 67.50 points.
“Grand Valley was the NCAA Division II Champion in both indoor and outdoor track last year, and they are ranked #1 in D2 this season, so we knew that it would be a very tough meet.,” noted head coach Sue Parks. “We are pleased to come away with a win in our last scored competition before the MAC meet. We still have many things to work on over the next few weeks, but I'm pleased that we're showing improvement each week.”
Victoria Voronko and Vanessa Clerveaux each took home a pair of victories as the Eagles won eight events in all during the meet. Clerveux won both 60-meter races, winning the dash in 7.69 while taking the hurdles in 8.51. The freshman finished her solid afternoon with a third-place showing in the triple jump.
Voronko raced to the top of the podium in the mile and the 3,000-meter run. Her mile time of 4:50.43 marked the sixth fastest time in school history. The Moscow, Russia native recorded a 9:44.40 in the 3,000-meter run, good enough for fourth in the EMU record books.
The Eagles capped off a sweep in the sprints with victories in the 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay. Danielle Clark crossed the finish line in 25.11 to take the 200-meter dash, and Asia Rawls won the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.56. The 4x400-meter relay team of Clark, Morgan Yeadon, Latipha Cross and Rawls finished ahead of the pack in 3:46.63.
Tatijana Jacobson took home the lone victory in the field events for the Eagles. The team captain leaped 1.74 meters to take top honors in the high jump.
Eastern travels out of state for the first time this season to compete in the Meyo Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame, Feb. 1-2.
Men's
ALLENDALE, Mich. – Ranked No. 8 in the nation according to Track and Field News Magazine's dual meet rankings, the Eastern Michigan University men's track and field team finished runner-up in the Grand Valley State University Quad, Saturday afternoon, Jan. 26, in the Kelly Family Sports Center.
Host Grand Valley State won the event with 164.50 points as EMU came in a close second with 154.50 points. Central Michigan and Hillsdale rounded out the field, scoring 124 and 61, respectively.
EMU took home eight victories from seven different Eagles as well as a victory in the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet of Jeff Elam, Tyler Ross, Jason Ervin and Cameron Bolton crossed the finish line first in 3:14.67.
Individually, Bolton won the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.15 as fellow Eagle Matthew Williams finished fourth. Williams raced to victory in the 200-meter dash in 21.88 as teammate Jay Saunders placed runner-up in 22.09.
The Eagles swept the three distance races on the afternoon. A time of 1:51.40 in the 800-meter run by Grzegorz Kalinowski was good enough for first place. Terefe Ejigu won the mile in 4:07.31, and Harry Dixon took the 3,000-meter run by crossing the finish line in 8:24.67.
Max Babits and Solomon Ijah brought back victories in field events. Babits continued his strong season with a 5.05-meter vault in the pole vault while Ijah won his first triple jump of the season, leaping 14.41 meters.
Eastern Michigan will travel out of state for the first time this season to compete in the Meyo Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame, Feb. 1-2.
Kent State
NORMAL, Ill.—Kent State's indoor track and field team completed successful day at Saturday's Redbird Invitational at the Horton Field House in Normal, Ill.