Women use weekend meets to gel freshmen, upperclassmen
The Central Michigan women’s track and field team opened up the outdoor season with a strong start this weekend.
Most of the team traveled to the Vanderbilt-hosted Black and Gold Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., while distance runners senior Danielle Dakroub and freshman Krista Parks went to Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.
At Stanford, the runners made a good showing. Dakroub finished sixth in her section with a personal-best time of 16:54.39, while Parks finished with a time of 17:45.23.
The rest of the team, however, was in Vanderbilt for the Black and Gold Invitational this weekend, where CMU earned nine top-five finishes in the sprinting events.
“It was a solid opener. Not as warm as we wanted it, but it was solid and we have a lot good things to work from,” said Willie Randolph, CMU track and field director. “We’re going in the right direction.”
In the 100-meter hurdles, sophomore Tamica Harbour placed second with a time of 15.04 seconds, while teammate senior Brittnee Shreve finished just behind her at third with a time of 15.13.
The 4x100-meter relay team consisting of seniors Shreve and Dunn, junior Dierra Riley and freshmen Kirlene Roberts took first place in the event with a time of 46.73.
In the field events, CMU came away with four top-five finishes. Freshmen Samantha Stein and Megan Heffner were among those top five finishes, both of which taking fifth place in the jump, with leaps of 5 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
Senior Katie Christensen also took fifth in the discus with a throw of 129 feet, four inches. She went on to shatter her personal best in the hammer toss with a throw of 145 feet, three inches. Senior Mykal Imbrock bested that, coming in second with a throw of 172 feet, 10 inches.
Overall, CMU finished in the Top 10 23 times, with 13 of those coming in the top five. The women are proving they have a good mix of veterans and young talent by having 10 of the 23 Top-10 finishes coming from underclassmen, six of which being freshmen.
“Communication between upper and underclassmen and the coaches and for them to understand everyone’s roles," Randolph said of the key to success this season. "We had a big recruiting class last year and they are getting support from the upperclassmen."
One of the underclassmen that have been contributing this season has been freshmen sprinter Shawntoreah Turk.
“The freshman are really driven, coach Randolph really focuses on us because we are his first real class,” Turk said. “He knows we’re going to be the team next year and the years to come.
“The upperclassmen definitely help us when we need them with anything from form to school. They didn’t make us feel like we were underclassmen.”
Turk placed second in the 400-meter dash over the weekend with a time of 56.54.
“I was really excited, I didn’t think I would run under 57 seconds because my legs were really heavy,” Turk said. “I actually kept up with one of our seniors. I was excited to be able to beat her.”
