Men post strong numbers at Notre Dame
Members of the Central Michigan track and field team finished up competition at the Meyo Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame on Saturday.
The sprinters and the hurdlers were the only Chippewas at the meet and posted some strong scores, led by freshman Ross Parsons who finished 11th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.93 seconds, this after he set a personal record in the preliminaries. Parsons also competed in the 200-meter dash and took 10th with a time of 22.15 seconds, also a career-best.
Parsons was also a part of the 4x400m relay team that also finished in the top 15. Joining him was freshman Clay Norman, senior Branden Post and junior Christopher Thomas. They posted a time of 3:19.76, good for 10th place.
Post also performed well in the 800-meter dash in his first time competing in the event this season.
Freshman Cory Noeker took 11th in the 500m dash, which was the highlight for the men's team on the first day.
“It’s very exciting to see a young kid compete on such a high level,” said director of track and field and cross country Willie Randolph. “We just need to make sure he continues to develop.”
The 10th and 11th place finishes were impressive because of the competition that he was running against, with athletes from some of the top schools around the country in attendance.
Randolph said he wanted to use this meet to show his athletes what the top level of competition is like and felt good about his team's performance.
“I definitely feel like we accomplished what we wanted to this weekend,” Randolph said. “I wanted our kids to compete against the best, and hopefully gain some confidence moving forward.”
The Chippewas are looking forward to getting the entire team back together this week in practice before traveling to Allendale to compete in the Grand Valley Big Meet on Feb. 11-12.
