ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University track and field team competed at the two-day Elaine Leigh Invitational hosted by Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, on Friday and Saturday afternoon (April 18-19). The Cardinals saw one event win with Sawyer Moloy winning the high jump after a 2.05m clearance. That mark is another NCAA Division II provisional mark. Moloy also had a top-five finish in the long jump with a leap of 6.45m.
Grace Collett, Madisyn Lundquist, Janae Hudson, and Abby Karst led the way for the women's team with second-place results in their respective events. Collett came in second during the 100 hurdles after she crossed the finish line in 14.20 seconds. Lundquist was the runner-up in the pole vault after clearing the bar at 3.37m. Hudson completed the afternoon with two top-five placings and another top-10 mark in the throws. Her second-place mark was in the shot put, where she measured a toss of 13.16m. Hudson placed fourth in the hammer at 44.35m, and ninth in the discus at 35.09m. Karst had a second-place finish in the javelin at 27.77m, while collecting two other top-10 finishes in the discus at 35.65m (8th) and the shot put at 9.90m (9th).
On the men's side, Nolan Berg placed second in the shot put with a best throw of 16.20m. Berg also finished fourth in the discus after a PR of 46.74m. Lucas Ray also had a good showing in the throws for the men as he was third in the shot put at 16.14m and eighth in the discus with 44.87m.
Both 4x100 relay teams placed second, with the women's team featuring Taylor Moyer, Chaniya Madison, Trinity Greer, and Sophia Thelen clocking in at 47.68. The men's team of Matthew Gazzarato, Quin Broussard, Jordon Brown, and Kabanu Witherspoon timed in at 41.28.
Brown placed fourth in the 200m after a time of 22.07. Witherspoon set a new PR in the 100m with a time of 10.73 in the preliminaries.
Makayla Fuerst and Autumn Morris both placed third for the women. Fuerst finished the 400 hurdles in 1:05.02 to earn her third-place standing. Morris came in third in the triple jump after leaping 10.59m in the event.
Landon Mars set a PR in the steeplechase of 10:08.36, where he placed third. Xavier Santiago was third in the men's high jump after clearing at 2.00m. Wilson Tschirhart was the final top-three placer for the men with a clearance of 4.29m in the pole vault.
Nate Niederquell, Braylon Silvas, and Mallory Farmer were the final three Cardinals in the top five of events. Niederquell was fourth in the 400 hurdles (55.57), Silvas was fourth in the long jump (6.50m) with a PR, and Farmer placed fifth in the 400m (1:00.52).