Lohner, Imbrock post career-bests at separate meets for women’s track and field

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The Central Michigan track and field program went all over the country this past weekend as the team split and attended a trio of meets headed by the Jesse Owens Classic in Columbus, Ohio.

The distance runners attended the Cardinal Invitational in Stanford, Calif., while some top throwers were at the Toledo Invitational in Toledo, Ohio.

Junior Raeanne Lohner highlighted her weekend with a career-best in the 5000-meter at the Cardinal Invitational. She clocked in with a time of 16:30.47 and finished runner-up in the event. Her previous best before this weekend in the 5000-meter was 16:50.01.

“It’s a comforting and exciting feeling to know that my coaches and I are doing the right training to produce fast races,” said Lohner. “As an athlete, you always hope to begin racing your fastest at the bigger meets towards the end of the season.”

Highlighting the Toledo Invitational was junior Mykal Imbrock, who outmatched 24 other athletes to win the hammer throw and post a career-best (55.6 meters) in the event. She won by tossing a 181-0.

Track and field director Willie Randolph said the team is moving in the right direction, but mentally some issues need to be resolved.

“We are a young team, but with experience we can hopefully overcome some of the mental mistakes,” he said. “We held in there this weekend, but I have high expectations for this program.”

At the Jesse Owens Classic, senior Erika Schroll highlighted the meet on the women’s side with another quality performance in the high jump. She cleared 5-10 1/2 feet to take second in the event. She out-jumped many Big Ten Conference athletes and topped the leader boards in the Mid-American Conference.

Schroll also finished 11th in the javelin throw scoring a 121-10.

With a new regional format this season, CMU is in a region loaded with competition. It is competing against schools such as No. 1 Louisiana State and No. 7 Florida. Randolph said the new format is beneficial to his team because they are competing against the best.

“Our region is very competitive and is basically like nationals,” he said.

Three Chippewas finished in the top 11 of the 100-meter run this weekend. Sophomore Dierra Riley finished seventh at 11.84 and juniors Brittnee Shreve and Jordan Dunn finished ninth and 11th, respectively. Shreve timed in at 11.87 and Dunn at 11.92.

CMU will travel to Ann Arbor on May 7-8 to compete in the Len Paddock Invitational. The meet will serve as the last tune-up for CMU before MAC Championships May 13-15 in Buffalo, N.Y.