CMU Track & Field Heads for MAC Championships
5/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | MTF
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MUNCIE, Ind. -- A chance to see how far the program has come.
And, how far it has to go.
The Central Michigan track & field teams will partake this weekend in the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships at University Track on the campus of Ball State.
The meet begins Thursday and concludes on Saturday.
"It's going to be a tough weekend," CMU director of track & field Mark Guthrie said. "We're going to get one decent day of weather and that's Thursday.
"I'm hoping that our student-athletes can persevere in less-than-ideal conditions. Everybody's going to have to compete in the same weather, so now it becomes a mental game. Hopefully we're stronger or as strong as the other teams.
"An important piece to success is not just the weather, but the delays that you have to deal with that come with the weather. Talent is the big piece, but it's still the mental game on this one. The stronger mentally prepared athletes might be able to beat a couple people who are superior athletes."
The Chippewa men were fifth last season and the women sixth. Six men's teams and 12 women's teams comprise the competition.
Guthrie said a fourth-place finish for both of his squads is a legitimate and attainable goal.
"I think we're better than we were last year, we're deeper," he said. "If you line up last year's best performances against this year's best performances, event-by-event, we're clearly significantly better."
On the men's side, CMU's best hopes to score points come in the throws, the 400-meter hurdles, the sprints, the javelin, the 4x400 relay, and in the distance events.
The Chippewas' Cole Walderzak is ranked first in the discus and second in the hammer, and Dylan Banagis is third in the discus, fourth in the hammer.
"Cole and Banagis are critical for us to get points," Guthrie said. "Those are big points they're battling for. We need for them to come through for us."
CMU's 4x400 relay squad -- Malik Vasquez, Clay Holman, Erick Huertes, Ziemowit Dutkiewicz -- is ranked third, and earlier this season set a Chippewa record in the event.
The premier event will be the last of the meet, scheduled for late Saturday afternoon.
"The spread from first to fourth is 1.35 (seconds)," Guthrie said. "Over 1,600 meters, that's pretty tight. And everybody's going to be running tired at the end. I feel good about their chances."
Dutkiewicz is seeded third and teammate Ja'Corey Lipsey is sixth in the 400 hurdles, while the Chippewas' Lorenzo Wells is seeded fourth in the 100.
Also for the CMU men, Brandon McCleese is seeded fourth in the javelin and Matt Mueller and Aaron Taylor go in ninth in the high jump. Mueller won the event at the MAC Indoor Championships.
CMU's best hope in the distance events on the men's side rest with Ben Wynsma and Nate Ghena. Ghena is ranked fourth in the 10,000 meters and seventh in the 5,000; Wynsma is seeded fifth in the steeplechase.
The Chippewa women also look for strong showings in the throws and distances, as well as the 400 hurdles, and in the 4x400 and 4x100 relays.
Several Chippewa women, including Abbey Kelto, Ravyn Baxter and Devene Brown, are looking for peak performances as the season reaches its crescendo.
Kelto, a senior, is the top seed in the 10,000 meters, fifth in the steeplechase, and eighth in the 5,000.
CMU's Bridget Doughty and Emma Fishnick are seeded third and fourth, respectively, in the 400 hurdles. Brown is seeded third in the discus and fifth in the shot put, while the Chippewas' Kylee Dobbelaere is seeded fifth in the hammer.
"There's a lot of points there that can help us," Guthrie said.
Baxter is seeded second in the 400 and is scheduled to run a leg on both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
"Baxter is having a remarkable year," Guthrie said. "If you go back a year ago her best 400 time might have been 55.9, and she's run 54.64."
The Chippewas' Diamond Hamilton is seeded fourth in the 100, while CMU goes in fourth in the 4x100 and fifth in the 4x400. Baxter, Doughty, Fishnick and Kelsey Ross comprise the 4x400 squad, while Hamilton, Tina Davis, Baxter and Markala Goodson make up the 4x100 team.
CMU's Shaya Wilkerson is seeded sixth in the triple jump, Ross is sixth in the 800, and Kyleigh Young is sixth in the javelin.
"We're getting better," Guthrie said. "We've got to have everybody. If we're going to continue to build and move forward, everybody who has the ability to score needs to score.
"It's not about time, height and distance now. It's about, Can I beat you today? That's what a championship meet's about."
Players Mentioned
