Chippewas place fifth, eighth during MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships
The Central Michigan University track and field teams were unable to claim a conference title during the Mid-American Indoor Conference Championships at Jack Skoog Indoor Track this weekend.
The men’s team finished fifth with 64 points. The women finished eighth out of 12 teams with 39.75 points.
The University of Akron men, 152 points, and the Eastern Michigan University women, 110.75 points, were crowned the MAC Indoor Champions.
Mark Guthrie, director of CMU track and field, said despite the disappointing results, he was “happy” with the way his team competed on the conference’s largest stage.
“I thought we had a great meet,” Guthrie said. “We still have work to do. But with the talent we have here, I thought they really reached down deep and got the job done.”
Friday
CMU kicked off the action with the women’s pentathlon highlighted by freshmen April Micheaux, Kyla Walton, and Wendy Szuminski.
Micheaux’s ninth-place finish was not good enough to earn the Chippewas a point.
The men picked up a pair of personal records in the weight throw as junior co-captains Cole Walderzak ,19.94 meters, and Dylan Banagis,19.12 meters, each placed fourth and fifth, respectively. The women were represented in the event by Kylee Dobbelaere, who finished second overall with a toss of 16.60 meters.
In the women’s 60-meter dash, Tina Davis, who entered the day second in the conference (7.55) missed the final cut and ended up finishing in 11th place in the preliminaries (7.74).
“Davis ran out of the blocks well, and then about the fifth step I don’t know what happened,” Guthrie said. “In that short period of time, you just can’t recover from that.”
Other notable events Friday included a sixth-place finish in the women’s 5,000-meters from senior Abbey Kelto (16:55.18).
The CMU men’s distance medley relay team comprised of of freshman Joseph Emmanuel, sophomore Ziemowit Dutkiewicz, senior Kyle Allinder, and senior Ben Wynsma finished in second place and picked up eight points for the Chippewas (10:09.90).
Saturday
CMU notched their lone MAC Champion from high jumper Matt Mueller a junior, who cleared 2.10 meters in the event. Fellow high jumper and sophomore Melvin Harris finished in sixth place.
Devene Brown set the indoor school record in the women’s shot put with a fourth-place throw of 15.39 meters.
Guthrie was happy his junior thrower achieved something she has long coveted on the final throw in the final indoor meet of the year.
“Devene Brown has been chasing the record for the last couple of years,” Guthrie said. “I was pleased for her because she is a good kid, works hard, and it’s a long time coming so I was happy for her.”
CMU had some surprise placements from freshman Erick Huertas in the men’s 400-meter dash (fourth place/49.61), sophomore Kelsey Ross in the women’s 800-meter run (fifth place/2:13.92), and freshman Lorenzo Wells in the men’s 200-meter dash (22.23).
“I’m glad as a freshman I’m able to score points in the MAC my first year,” Huertas said. “Overall it has been a good performance.”
Ross said that she did not expect to make the finals. She tried to put the nerves to rest for the final indoor meet of the season.
“The nerves really get to me,” Ross said. “I try to tell myself not to be a mental midget. I focused really well and I was ready for it. I needed this.”
CMU closed out their indoor season with strong finishes in their 4x400-meter relay, as the women placed third (3:48.82) and the men second (3:17.74).
