Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Build Character in Close Home Loss
4/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
April 9, 2005
MOUNT PLEASANT-- The Central Michigan University women's track team came up one point short of a victory on Saturday in a tri-meet against Western Michigan University and University of Toledo. The meet was CMU's one and only home meet of the year.
The final was 156 points for WMU and CMU picking up second with 155. Toledo finished the day in a distant third with only 67 points.
"It's hard to lose a close meet, but WMU is a good team," said coach Karen Lutzke. "Coming into today's meet we knew they were a better outdoor team than they are an indoor team. Its not that we didn't perform well, it just wasn't well enough. Hopefully this will be a wake up call."
Through the loss there were a few bright spots for the Chippewas. Tamera Thomas finished first in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.61, which bettered her regional qualifying time and set the new track record at CMU's Lyle Bennett Track. Thomas also finished first in the long jump, jumping 19-2, and third in the 200m dash with a time of 24.85.
Also shining with Thomas was Katie Davis who also qualified for regionals in the shot put with a throw of 47-7 3/4. Other first-place finishes for the Chippewas were Kari Taylor who won the javelin throw (111-1), Danielle Quisenberry in the 1500m run (4:40.97), Teresa Bongiovanni in the 3000m run (10:15.50) and Jackie Smart in the triple jump (40-7).
"There was just good competition today, WMU's performance pushed us to perform better," Lutzke said. "But we came up short and now we see that MAC teams can beat us."
When the meet was finished the team was huddled trying to regroup from a tough loss. "It hurts to lose to a MAC school, but today WMU deserved to win. In the long run I'm sure today's loss was a good thing."
The Chippewas will look to rebound next week at the University of Tennessee for the Sea Ray Relays on April 15-16.
