Men's, women's track athletes record personal bests at Notre Dame Invite
Despite no Central Michigan track athletes taking first place, many Chippewas impressed at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational, which coach Mark Guthrie previously described as a “crossroads.”
A week before the meet, Gutherie said this weekend would show the CMU athletes whether they were “pretenders or the real deal.” He said his athletes proved the latter to be true.
“Almost all of our athletes scored season or career bests,” Guthrie said. “You can’t ask for much more.”
With personal highs across the board for both the men and women, Guthrie said he thinks his teams are ready for the rest of the season, including the indoor Mid-American Conference Championships in late February.
Among those who recorded a career-high was Senior thrower Dylan Banagis, who threw 20.78 meters to come in third place in the men’s weight throw.
Fellow weight thrower freshman Logan Targgart threw 17.93 meters for eleventh place, just one meet after setting the school freshman record with 18.51.
Senior Malik Peacock came just shy of his personal best of 6.91 in the 60-meter dash, running a 6.95 to finish 22nd in the preliminaries. His time dropped slightly in the semifinals, running a 7.01 to finish 19th.
Tying his season best in the 400 was sophomore Benjamin Hayes, who finished seventh with 47.70 seconds.
Junior Scott Cousino set a season-best with 1:53.31 in the men’s 800 and freshman Luke Anderson set a career-best in the mile with a 4:15.49. With a time of 15:07.80, fellow freshman Bransen Stimpfel set a career-best in the men’s 5000.
Two Chippewas registered a career-best in the 3000, with senior Silas DeKalita running 8:20.72 and junior Joseph Emmanuel running 8:23.74.
After strong start to her career, freshman Nadia Williams ran for 7.67 in the women’s 60 and a ninth-place finish in the long jump with 5.75 meters.
Freshman Aisha Jackson ran a career-best 8.91 in the 60-meter hurdles for the women's team.
Finishing 10th in the women’s high jump was sophomore Emily Helfrich, who jumped a season-high 1.61 meters.
Sophomore Samantha Cuneo took home a 14th place finish in the women’s 400, running for a season-best 54.79.
Taking 36th place in a field of 78, junior Megan O’Neil ran for a career-best in the mile with a time of 4:55.85.
Sophomore Samantha Allmacher set a season-best mark with a time of 17:38.89.
With a score of 3.75 meters, junior Rebekah Petty finished 15th in the pole vault over sophomore teammate Amber Wagner, who recorded a 3.60.
Senior Kylee Dobbelaere finished in 11th place in the women’s weight throw with 17.01 meters.
The track teams will participate in the Big Meet at 10 a.m. on Feb. 10 in Allendale.
