Central Michigan University Athletics
Strong Veterans Lead Chippewas at Simmons Invite
1/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Complete results | Photo Gallery
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Facing their toughest competition to this point, the men's and women's indoor track teams rode a number of successful performances by nationally-ranked and veteran student-athletes to impressive showings at Saturday's Jack Harvey and Red Simmons Invitationals, respectively.
The men's team, led by a slew of veterans in the field events, scored 160 points and finished runner-up in the Harvey Invitational to the host Michigan Wolverines, who scored 176. The meet employed a non-traditional scoring system in which only two athletes from each team could score.
CMU also beat conference foe Eastern Michigan and Detroit Mercy, who finished with 119 and 78 points respectively.
No scores were recorded for the women's Simmons Invitational. The women's team faced the same teams, in addition to another conference foe in Bowling Green.
Of the 15 events on the men's side, five were won by Chippewa student-athletes, including four of the six field events. The women emerged victorious in two events, and a Chippewa was the top collegiate finisher in another. Professional track and field athletes also competed on the women's side.
Senior Josh Kettlewell won the pole vault with a career-best vault of 17-01, just five inches shy of the indoor school record. The vault improves upon his top-35 ranking nationally, according to the Track and Field Results Reporting System, though exactly where he will fall in the rankings will not be known until all of Saturday's meets have been submitted to the site.
Senior Kevin Mays claimed the weight throw with a season-best toss of 64-07.25, and senior Ryan McCullough finished third with a throw of 61-08.5 in his season debut. Like Kettlewell, Mays also improves upon a top-25 national ranking, and an exact ranking will be available when Saturday's national results are compiled.
Senior Kevin Bacon finished the long jump in first after a tie-breaker with a jump of 21-08.25, and senior George Flanner took the shot put with a throw of 51-00.25. Junior Andrew Kruskamp finished runner-up in the high jump with a leap of 6-08, just a quarter of an inch shy of his career best.
Sophomore Tecumseh Adams won the mile run in his season debut with a time of 4:12.82, just tenths of a second shy of his personal best.
Sophomore Ross Parsons also turned in strong performances with a runner-up finish in the 200m dash (22.22) and a third-place showing in the 60m dash (6.93).
For the women's team, senior Stephanie Hurley won the 400m dash with a season-best time of 58.02.
Senior Holly Anderson won the 3000m run in a runaway with a career-best time of 9:58.17. The runner up finished approximately 13 seconds after Anderson had crossed the line.
Sophomore Megan Heffner was the top collegiate finisher in the high jump with a jump of 5-07, tied for her career best. Michigan grauduate and professional Mizuno sponsored athlete Nicole Forrester took the competition with a 6-00.75 leap.
Senior Veronica Garcia finished runner-up in the 800m run with a time of 2:15.68 – just four-hundredths of a second behind the winner.
Competing against formidable opponents in Michigan and Eastern Michigan gave Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Willie Randolph a sense of perspective on where his teams are at this early point in the season.
“We're hitting a lot of event areas in which we knew we would be strong in, so we definitely are well-balanced,” Randolph said of the men's team. “It just comes down to our top people hitting on the days when it matters, supported by our balance.”
Though no scores were calculated for the women, Randolph was also still able to get a feel for where his young team is at.
“We're still young but we're moving in the right direction so we can do great things later on,” he said.
The full team is next in action at Notre Dame for the Meyo Invitational on Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday Feb. 4. Throwers will next compete at Saginaw Valley State on Friday Jan. 27, and the multi-event student-athletes will be at the Bison Invite in Lewisburg, Pa. that same day and the next.
