ALLENDALE, Mich. - Members of the Saginaw Valley State University men's and women's track and field teams finished up the 2013 Great Lakes Intercollegiate (GLIAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships today (Feb. 24) at Grand Valley State University.
The Lady Cardinals made a late run to move into fourth place with 48 points in the team competition, while the men finished 10th with 24 points.
Women - 4th Place (48 points)
Sophomore Emily Short (Tawas, Mich. / Tawas Area) smashed her own SVSU school record in the 3,000 meter run as she bested her old mark by over nine seconds with a time of 9:42.12. Short's time landed her runner-up in the race and significantly improves her provisional qualifying time. Fellow Cardinal Lauren Hill (Flat Rock, Mich.) finished seventh in the 3k in 10:02.75.
The SVSU team of junior Diamond Taylor (Southfield, Mich.), freshman Ola Hendler (Lansing, Mich. / Grand Ledge HS), Taylor Stepanski and junior Shavonne Roberson (Ypsilanti, Mich.) also broke their own school record as they finished third in the 4x400 meter relay with a mark of 3:52.54 to improve their NCAA Provisional standing.
Freshman Taylor Stepanski (Alpena, Mich.) continues to dominate the 800 meter run with a time of 2:11.05 on the 300-meter track, which was also a new GLIAC Indoor Championships record at the time.
Hendler also recorded a fifth place finish in the finals of the 400 as she crossed the line in 58.12 seconds as she continues her strong freshman campaign.
Sprinter Yanisha Edwards (Flint, Mich. / Northwestern) posted a fourth place finish in the finals of the 200 meter dash with a mark of 25.27 seconds, her second best time of the year. Edwards also finished seventh in the final heat of the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.84 seconds, her third best time of the year.
Sophomore Emerald Joiner (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill) finished the finals of the shot put competition with a distance of 44 feet 11 1/2 inches, good for eighth place.
Men - 10th Place (24 points)
Tyler Grob (Pinckney, Mich.) led the way on the men's side as he was victorious in the heptathlon with a new NCAA Division II Provisional Qualifying total of 5,096 points, just 15 points shy of a new school record (Kyle McDaniel - 5,111).
Grob started off the second day of the heptathlon with a second place finish after a time of 8.64 seconds in the 60 hurdles. Grob went on to take the crown with a first place finish in the pole vault (14 feet 5 1/4 inches) and a third place showing in the final event of the competition, the 1,000 meter run (2:46.87).
Outside of the heptathlon, Grob took sixth place in the pole vault with a height of 16 feet 3 1/2 inches.
Tyler Grob was named the 2013 GLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships 'Field Athlete of the Meet' at an awards ceremony that took place at the conclusion of the competition.
Junior Raetron Bryant (Burton, Mich. / Atherton) earned a sixth place finish in the triple jump competition with a season-best distance of 46 feet 10 3/4 inches as he improves his NCAA Division II Provisional Qualifying standing.
D'Omar Boyden (Portmore, Jamaica) ended the 60 hurdles in sixth place after a time of 8.31 seconds in the final heat, while Travis Toye (Davison, Mich.) finished in ninth place in the 800 meter after a time of 1:54.18.
The Cardinal track and field student-athletes now wait to hear this week who will be selected for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. scheduled for March 8th and 9th.