Track and field claims five first-place finishes at GVSU
Members of the Central Michigan University track and field teams were told earlier this week that Friday's meet was their “last chance” to fine tune their skills before the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships next weekend.
CMU made the most of its last chances.
The Chippewas had five first-place finishes in Friday’s Grand Valley State University Tune-Up - two from the women and three from the men. CMU also had several top five finishes in the meet.
Mark Guthrie, director of track and field, said he was happy with the way his team competed.
“We had some good performances,” Guthrie said. “We had a lot of (personal records). I thought we ran well on both sides of the sprints. We looked better in the weight throw than what we have been.”
CMU grabbed a first-place finish from sprinter Tina Davis in the 60-meter dash. The community college transfer finished second in the preliminaries at 7.7seconds, one tenth shy of GVSU’s Michaela Lewis. Davis was able to get the best of Lewis in the finals, running a 7.55 mark, tying her personal record.
“I (Davis) is ready to go for next week and overall I thought she had a pretty good run,” Guthrie said.
Devene Brown notched the women’s final first-place finish in the shot put, throwing it 15.03 meters. Shaya Wilkerson finished third in the women’s high jump (5.45 meters).
On the men’s side, the Chippewas garnered the top two spots in the 400-meters. Erick Huertas took home first place at 48.11 seconds, while Polish teammate Ziemowit Dutkiewicz came close behind at 48.19 seconds. Archie Sullivan and Curtis Mitchell finished in fifth and sixth place for CMU, respectively.
Mitchell collected a first-place finish in the 200-meters at 21.91. The Chippewas took three of the top four spots in the event, as Lorenzo Wells finished in third place (21.99) and Tahshon Reese finished in fourth (22.20).
The final first-place finish from CMU came in the 800-meters from Kyle Allinder at 1:54.64. Tyler Hamilton (fourth place/1:56.03) and Anderson Lee (1:56.39) finished in the top five in the event.
Notable performances from the men include second and third-place finishes in the 3000-meters from Monte Scott and Casey Voisin, respectively.
Five Chippewas – Dillon Brooks, Malik Peacock, Jamar Hardy, Wells, and Reese – qualified for the 60-meter dash finals. Only Brooks, Peacock, and Hardy competed and fell short of unattached athlete Lawson Bright-Mitchell (6.86). Brooks (6.93) and Peacock (6.96) finished in second and third-place, respectively. Hardy finished in seventh at 7.15.
“I thought we competed pretty well,” Guthrie said. “We got some things accomplished. Now we’ll sit down and make some decisions and come up with a roster for the MAC meet.”
