Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Conclude First Day of MAC Championships
5/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | MTF
Men's Results | Women's Results
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Raeanne Lohner put no doubt into her first-career Mid-American Conference title on Thursday.
The junior distance runner won the 10,000m with a time of 35:23.59, over eight seconds faster than the nearest competitor, to lead the Central Michigan track and field program on the first day of the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Lohner’s finish moved the women’s team into fifth place (16 points) to close Thursday’s competition. The men’s squad currently sits third with 33.5 points.
“Raeanne did a fantastic job in her first-career 10,000m today,” head coach Willie Randolph said. “To go from an 800m specialist to winning the 10,000m speaks volumes for how hard she has worked this season.”
Kent State leads both meets as the men have 40 points and the women have 25 through the first day.
Marcus Breidinger was the top day-one performer for the men as he finished runner-up in the pole vault at his final conference meet. The Alma, Mich., native cleared 16-7 1/4 to earn second-team All-MAC honors.
“Marcus obviously wanted to close out his career with a MAC title,” Randolph said. “He lost to someone who broke the conference record in the pole vault, so it was not a bad loss by any means. For Marcus to be consistent and place high in both conference meets this year says a lot about his focus.”
The women’s team also got points from the throwing events on Thursday. Erika Schroll took fifth in the javelin with a career-best 130-11 while Mykal Imbrock claimed seventh in the hammer throw with a toss of 177-8.
Schroll and Tanisha Johnson are both hunting for points in the heptathlon, which will conclude on Friday. Through four events, Schroll sits fourth in the combined competition with 2,921 points while Johnson is just behind with 2,914 points (fifth). Both athletes were aided by strong performances in the high jump as Schroll won the event with a leap of 5-9 3/4 while Johnson’s 5-6 tied for second.
All nine day-one competitors for the men’s squad produced points for the Maroon and Gold. In addition to Breidinger’s runner-up finish in the pole vault, Joseph Jankowski finished tied for fourth in the event with a career-best 16-1 1/4 while Mike McGregor took seventh (15-7 1/4).
Greg Pilling led the hammer throw lineup with season-best 187-3 to finish fifth while Ryan McCullough and Kevin Mays finished seventh and eighth with career-best throws of 177-8 and 176-7, respectively.
The Chippewas also had three scorers in the 10,000m as Riak Mabil (30:41) took fourth, Matt Lutzke (30:48.63) finished fifth and Sammy Kiprotich (31:07.51) came in sixth.
“We got more points than we thought we would have coming in,” Randolph said. “The throwers and distance runners did a great job from top to bottom, the pole vault lineup did was fantastic and Erika did a tremendous job going from the 200m of the heptathlon and immediately throwing a career-best in the javelin.
“Overall, we are excited about where we are at after today, but we have to pick things up where we left off and keep executing tomorrow.”
Also competing for the men on Thursday was Joshua Kettlewell, who sits ninth in the decathlon through five events with 3,110 points.
The meet resumes on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
