PUEBLO, Co. – The Saginaw Valley State University Track and Field team kicked off the first day of competition at the NCAA Division II National Championships on May 25. The first day consisted of one athlete from the men's team and three athletes from the women's team competing in the championships.
Men's Team
Ryan Brenner – Decathlon
Brenner is 1 of 15 athletes in the event throughout the next two days. He currently sits in sixth place overall for the Cardinals with 3801 total points. Brenner finished eighth in the 100m, fourteenth in the long jump, third in the shot put, seventh in the high jump, and second in the 400m run. There are four events tomorrow that will round out the event.
Women's Team
Lauren Buckner – 1500m Run
Buckner was 1 out of 20 athletes competing in the race. She fell just one spot shy of the qualifying time and finished her senior season in 13th place running a time of 4:35.30.
Alexa Keiser – 3000m Steeplechase
Keiser was 1 of 20 athletes competing in the event. She finished the qualifying round in 19th place with a time of 11:21.13. Keiser will look to build on the event as this is her first year competing.
Cheyenne Williamson – Heptathlon, Long Jump
Williamson currently leads the heptathlon after day one of the event. She is the current two-time defending champion in the event and has a great chance to repeat and bring the women's heptathlon title back to Saginaw Valley for the fourth straight year (Huebner 2019, Williamson 2021, 2022). Williamson did not finish outside of the top three for any of the four events today within the heptathlon. She finished first in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.56, second in the high jump with a jump of 1.74m, third in the shot put with a toss of 11.87m, and first in the 200m run with a time of 23.83. She leads the field by 231 points with a total score of 3594. There are three events tomorrow; Long Jump, Javelin Throw, and 800m dash.
Williamson also competed in the long jump finals today, claiming All-American Honors with a leap of 6.09m (19' 11.75"). Williamson will hope to have a leap of the same magnitude tomorrow for her section of the heptathlon.
UP NEXT
Day two of the championships commence tomorrow where Ryan Brenner and Cheyenne Williamson wrap up their respective multi events.