Click here for the 2016 GLIAC Indoor Championships Central Page
TIFFIN, Ohio - The 2016 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships are set to take place Friday and Saturday at the Heminger Center on the campus of Tiffin University.
Saginaw Valley State looks to improve upon last year's fifth place showing on the women's side and seventh place finish for the men. The Cardinal men enter the championships ranked 22nd nationally while the women have just recently dropped out of the national top-25 rankings.
Anna Fochesato returns as the reigning Field Athlete of the Meet and High Point Athlete of the Meet from the 2015 championships. She will be defending her GLIAC title in the triple jump as well. She finished runner-up in last year's high jump event.
Teammate Taylor Stepanski is the returning GLIAC champion in the 800 meter run as well, as she was the champion in the event for both the indoor and outdoor seasons last year.
The 2015 DMR team had a runner-up finish in the championships and would go on to finish third in the NCAA Division II championships with a new indoor school record.
Stepanski ranks fifth in the nation currently and is a lock to compete in the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships with her automatic qualifying time in the 800 meters of 2:09.62. She is seventh in the mile with a mark of 4:50.24. Those times rank first and fourth in the GLIAC this year, respectively. Emerald Joiner currently ranks 14th nationally in the shot put with a distance of 14.32 meters, putting her fifth in the league.
Andrew Mudd had a runner-up showing in the heptathlon for last year's championships to lead the Cardinals.
Joey Southgate posted a fifth-place finish last year for the men in the 5,000 meter run while D'Omar Boyden and Robert Tarpley had fifth-place showings as well in the 60 meter hurdles and long jump, respectively.
Freshman Robert Atwater sits third nationally and first in the GLIAC for the high jump this year with a height of 2.15 meters. Mudd sits sixth in the nation currently for the heptathlon with his 5,262 total, which ranks him second in the league this year. Robert Tarpley sits in the top-20 in two different events on the national qualifying list, as he is 12th in the long jump with a distance of 7.35 meters and 20th in the triple jump at 14.82 meters. Tarpley's long jump mark is first in the GLIAC and his triple jump distance ranks him second in the league.
Action at the 2016 championships begins Saturday (Feb. 27) at 10:00 a.m. with the women's pentathlon and men's heptathlon. Running events are slated to begin at 2:55 p.m.
Click here for the full schedule of events
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