Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Notre Dame - Meyo Invitational
Banagis Posts Top CMU Finish at Highly Competitive Meyo Invite
2/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Nate Perry, CMUChippewas.com
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Rise to the occasion or get left behind: those are the options when the field of competitors becomes deeper and more talented.
Central Michigan Director of Track & Field Mark Guthrie was interested to see how his teams would react to being placed in one of those situations.
Overall, he was impressed with their response Friday and Saturday at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational.
"I thought there was way more good than bad," Guthrie said. "I asked my veterans to lead us this weekend and I thought they did that and the message was well received. We had a bunch more PR's again today."
One of those veterans, Dylan Banagis, was the brightest CMU star at the meet, in the men's weight throw. On his final throw of the afternoon, hobbled by a sprained ankle, Banagis heaved the weight a career-best 20.78 meters.
His effort was enough for third place, the best finish for CMU in any event.
"He still has some things to clean up and we have get him back healthy, but to be able to throw like that was great to see from him," Guthrie said.
CMU's Sam Wagner claimed fourth place in the men's pole vault with a finishing height of 4.83 meters.
Central Michigan earned a pair of seventh-place finishes from Benjamin Hayes in the men's 400-meter run and from Jake Peister in the men's triple jump.
Hayes' time of 47.70 was the best in his heat and was the seventh-best among 63 entrants, 35 of whom came from the Big Ten or Atlantic Coast Conference.
Peister's best jump of 14.91 meters was his season-best, but Guthrie is confident that the best is yet to come for the sophomore from Blue Springs, Mo.
"It was a good jump for him, but after we clean up a few technical things, I'm very confident we'll see him up over 15 (feet) before the end of the year," Guthrie said.
Narrowly missing the top eight in the women's long jump was CMU freshman Nadia Williams, who came in ninth with a 5.75-meter attempt.
Williams has been increasingly impressive in her young career and has had very little difficulty adjusting to collegiate competition, Guthrie said. As a freshman, she has notched six first-place finishes and has already qualified for the Mid-American Conference Championships in both the 60-meter dash and the long jump.
CMU's Samantha Cuneo posted a personal best 54.79 in the women's 400-meter dash, placing 14th.
"We're showing that, over time, we've really grown in these past four years," Guthrie said. "We continue to improve the quality of our athletes, we have really good coaches, and we are showing that we can compete at a high level like this, which raises the bar going forward."
The Chippewas will head to Grand Valley State on Friday, Feb. 10, for The Big Meet.
Players Mentioned
