ALLENDALE, Mich. - Members of the Saginaw Valley State University men's and women's track and field teams competed on Day One of the 2013 Great Lakes Intercollegiate (GLIAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships today (Feb. 23) at Grand Valley State University.
Women
Freshman sprinter Yanisha Edwards (Flint, Mich. / Northwestern) broke the SVSU school record for the third time this season in the 60 meter dash prelims with a time of 7.82 seconds, edging out her previous time of 7.83 set at the SVSU-GVSU Dual three weeks ago. Although Edwards recorded the seventh best time, she is placed third and will get preferred lanes for the finals on Sunday (Feb. 24) because she won her heat. Yanisha also made the cut for tomorrow's finals in the 200 meter dash finishing in sixth place with a provisional time of 25.29 seconds just shy of her own school record.
The Lady Cardinals distance medley relay team consisting of Emily Short (Tawas, Mich. / Tawas Area), Shavonne Roberson (Ypsilanti, Mich.), Taylor Stepanski (Alpena, Mich.) and Lauren Hill (Flat Rock, Mich.) soared to a second place finish in the relay race as they finished with their season-best NCAA Division II Provisional Qualifying time of 11:51.96, just .39 seconds behind the winning team from Hillsdale. The runner-up finish gave the SVSU women eight points, their first of the GLIAC Championships.
Fellow freshman Ola Hendler (Lansing, Mich. / Grand Ledge) qualified for Sunday's final heat in the 400 meter dash finishing in sixth place with a time of 58.72.
Paige Stepanski (Alpena, Mich.) earned a third place finish in the 800 meter portion of the women's heptathlon with a time of 2:26.93 as she finished ninth overall in the final standings.
Men
Senior Joey Burelle (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Stevenson) scored the first points of the day for Saginaw Valley as he took fifth place in the 5,000 meter run. Burelle improved his season-best time by eight seconds as he crossed the finish line in 14:58.43 to earn four points for the Cardinals.
Tyler Grob (Pinckney, Mich.) ran out to a quick start in the men's heptathlon with a first place finish after a time of 7.27 seconds in the 60 meter dash competition, the first event. Grob followed with a fourth place finish in the long jump as he recorded a mark of 20 feet 11 1/4 inches.
In the shot put competition, the third event, Grob also earned top honors with a distance of 41 feet 5 inches. After day one of the men's heptathlon competition, Grob sits in second place with 2,739 points.
David Ray (Lansing, Mich. / Eastern) continued his strong senior season as he sprinted his way into the final heat of the 60 dash on Sunday with a time of 8.12 seconds in the preliminary round to mark the second best time of the day.
The Cardinal track and field student-athletes will be back in action tomorrow for the second and final day of the 2013 GLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships.