Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
MAC Outdoor Championship
Weiler Fifth In Shot Put At MAC Championships
5/12/2017 12:00:00 AM | MTF
Nate Perry, CMUChippewas.com
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Friday's preliminaries at the Mid-American Conference Track & Field Outdoor Championships proved to be a tough test for most on the Central Michigan squad at Western Michigan's Kanley Track & Field Complex.
Just three Chippewas who participated in a preliminary on Friday will take part in one of Saturday's finals.
The Chippewas' Samantha Cuneo won her heat in the women's 400-meter dash with a time of 55.12 seconds and is one of nine who will run in Saturday's final.
Among those eight opponents are Jorian Ordway of Kent State, Olivia Bechtel of Miami (Ohio), and Bowling Green's Taylor Rambo, the owners of the third, fourth and fifth-fastest 400 times posted in the MAC this regular season.
Cuneo holds the second-best mark in the 400 from the outdoor regular season, but she will need to save her best for last to complete the indoor-outdoor sweep as conference champion in the event.
The Chippewas' Kelsey Ross recorded the best time in the second heat of the women's 800-meter run, finishing at 2:10.41. She was just .14 seconds behind the top finisher from heat one, Kent State's Olivia Gaus.
Ross took the fifth-best time in the 800 in the regular season and will have to slay her own set of beasts to take the title.
Among her adversaries are Gaus, who took the No. 3 time for the regular season, Northern Illinois' Lorena Martin who was seventh, and Hannah Fleck of Kent State, who was ninth.
CMU's Aaron Taylor advanced to the final men's 110-meter hurdles, posting career-best time of 14.73 seconds.
The best finish of the day for a CMU athlete belonged to Nadia Williams, who finished third in the women's long jump.
Williams' first attempt of 20 feet Ă‚Âľ inch was good enough for the bronze. She finished just 2 inches behind the second-placer finisher and 5 inches off the winner, Daniella Johnson of Akron.
CMU's Kevin Weiler took home fifth place in the men's shot put with a series best of 53-10 3/4.
Much like Dylan Banagis in Thursday's hammer throw, Weiler was moved from fourth to fifth place on the final throw of Walter Petzel's series.
Petzel, a freshman from Kent State, moved into the circle and beat Weiler by less than an inch at 53-11 1/2.
While Friday's results may not have been what the Chippewas were looking for, redemption could lie in the remaining events on Saturday.
Weiler and Logan Targgart will throw in the men's discus, Calli Stemple will get her opportunity in the women's high jump, and Jake Peister will go in the men's triple jump.
Also for CMU on Saturday, distance stalwarts Casey Voisin, Spencer Nousain and Joseph Emmanuel will all run in the men's 5,000, while Megan O'Neil holds the No. 5 overall seed in the event on the women's side.
The men's discus will begin Saturday's action - the third and final day of the championships -- at 10 a.m. The track events will get underway at 1 p.m. with the men's 4x100m relay.
The Chippewa men stand in fourth place among six teams with 24 points. The CMU women are ninth (of 11) with 16 points.
Players Mentioned
