Central Michigan University Athletics
Three Firsts For CMU Track & Field
4/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The goals on opening weekend for the Central Michigan track and field team were to meet qualifying standards for the Mid-American Conference championships, and to establish starting points.
On both counts, the Chippewas did quite well.
CMU student-athletes competed at three meets, and at all three, several produced solid performances.
The Chippewas notched three first places at the Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic, and they recorded a combined five MAC-qualifying times at both the Stanford Invitational and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival.
• At Eastern Illinois, the Chippewas' Cole Walderzak won the men's hammer throw, Kevin Weiler won the men's shot put, and Megan O'Neil placed first in the women's 5,000-meter run.
Walderzak won the hammer throw with a toss of 205 feet, 7 inches; Weiler won the shot put at 56-11 ½; and O'Neil finished the 5,000 in 17 minutes, 20.8 seconds.
The distances for Walderzak and Weiler qualified them for the MAC Championships.
Also for CMU, Dylan Banagis was fifth in the men's hammer throw at 183-0; Diavonte Smith placed fourth in the long jump, 23-1 ¾; and Ja'Corey Lipsey was eighth in the men's 400 hurdles (55.92 seconds).
The Big Blue Classic concludes on Saturday.
• Three Chippewas competed in the Stanford Invitational, and two, Ziemowit Dutkiewicz and Benjamin Hayes, exceeded qualifying times for the MAC Championships.
Dutkiewicz placed seventh in the 400 hurdles in 52.91, and Hayes was 10th in the 400-meter dash in 48.10.
• At the Distance Carnival at San Francisco State, three CMU runners exceeded MAC qualifying standards in the 5,000-meter run, and another earned a fifth-place finish.
In the women's 5,000, Kirsten Olling finished in 16:50.71, and Kelly Schubert came in at 17:02.86. They finished eighth and 15th, respectively, and both of their times qualified them for the MAC Championships.
CMU's Nate Ghena placed ninth in the men's 5,000 in 14:21.42, a clocking that qualified him for the MAC Championships.
Kelsey Ross placed fifth in the women's 800-meter run in 2:12.58.
Players Mentioned
