UNIVERSITY CENTER, MICH. – The Saginaw Valley State University track and field teams hosted the first day of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships today, February 25th. The men's and women's team looked to wrap up their indoor seasons on a high note as they got one last shot to hit NCAA provisional marks against the best of the best in the conference.
To start the day, in the women's pentathlon, Kelsey Landra made the podium with a third-place finish totaling 3269 points. Ryan Brenner currently sits in second place in the men's heptathlon with 2854 points and will wrap up tomorrow morning.
Field events on day one saw MacKenzie Ramey pick up four points placing fifth in the weight throw. While Clarence Corbett and Andrew Quinn picked up points for the men's team finishing seventh and eighth place respectively. Three pole vaulters collected points for the Cardinals; William Aldrich, Wilson Tschirhart, and Deven Varela finished inside of the top eight. Kabanu Witherspoon finished fifth in the long jump for the men's team picking up four points.
For the running events: Cassandra Campbell, Grace Collett, and Hanna Schroeder qualified for the 60m hurdle finals and will look to find the podium at 12:45 tomorrow afternoon. In the men's 60m hurdles preliminary round, Nathan Furst topped the competition and Alex Stoll stole the last spot in the finals. They will compete at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Trinity Greer and Cassie Campbell finished in sixth and seventh place in the 400m run qualified for the finals and in the men's 400m run, Tyler Burrell and Evan Green found themselves a spot in the final heat tomorrow afternoon. In the 60m dash, Angelina Delbosque, Autumn Morris, Quin Broussard, and Kabanu Witherspoon qualified for the finals. Delbosque was also able to advance to the finals in the 200m along side Trinity Greer. Witherspoon finished fifth in his 200m prelim race qualifying him for the finals tomorrow.
In the 5000m final, Thomas Hufton finished second overall running a time of 14:23.44 hitting an NCAA Provisional Mark while taking home the silver medal. The men's distance medley relay team placed third in the evening earning themselves the podium. The team was made up of Eric Niestroy, Tyler Burrell, Luke Burns, and Jack Lobodzinski. The meet was capped off by the women's distance medley relay team consisting of Lauren Buckner, Cassie Campbell, Karissa Picard, and Alexa Keiser placing first and breaking a school record, alongside posting the second fastest time in the country for division 2 finishing in a blazing 11:29.70 qualifying them for NCCA Nationals.
Both squads currently sit in second place overall behind Grand Valley State University. The teams will look to wrap up the conference championships tomorrow. Awards will be held at 3:30 p.m.