Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
MAC Outdoor Championship
Peister, Banagis Lead CMU On Final Day
5/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | MTF
Nate Perry, CMUChippewas.com
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - While the first two days at the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships may not have favored Central Michigan, the Chippewas were able to salvage some top-six finishes on Saturday, the third and final day of the championships at Western Michigan's Kanley Track & Field Complex.
"Tough weekend," said CMU Director of Track & Field Mark Guthrie. "What I asked the team to do, since we weren't going to be in it to win it, was to see how many (personal records) we could get. Some kids will be able to stand up at the end of the meet and say they set one, so there's lots of ways to measure success."
One of those athletes who will be able to report a lifetime best is sophomore triple jumper Jake Peister.
Through five triple jump attempts, Peister was tied for fourth place with Akron's Jailyn Twitty at 48 feet, 10 inches. On his final jump, Peister posted a career-best leap of 50-3 which locked up third place.
"That jump was a lifetime best for him and he'll probably get into the first round (of the NCAA Outdoor Championships), we're hoping," Guthrie said. "It was a great effort and his folks drove all the way in from Missouri, so for them that had to be pretty exciting, and we're excited for him."
Kent State's Craig Stevens won the event with a leap of 52-8 Ă‚ÂĽ. Akron's Michael Ohiembor was second at 51-9 1/2.
CMU senior Dylan Banagis took a third-place finish of his own, in the discus, in what may have been the final meet of his collegiate career.
Banagis' bronze-medal effort of 180-1 came on the first throw of his series, but he would fall victim to the Jagers brothers, Kent State's Reggie and Akron's Philip, who finished 1-2.
Reggie Jagers won with a toss of 201-8 Ă‚Âľ, while Philip was second at 197-4. Both marks broke the MAC record of 191-10 set last season by former Chippewa Cole Walderzak.
"It is what it is," Guthrie said. "(Dylan) knew he was in good competition and those two guys are great athletes. By no means did he get beat by someone who isn't good. I'm proud of Dylan and all of our throwers."
CMU sophomore Samantha Cuneo placed fourth in the women's 400-meter dash, finishing in 54.59 seconds. She was .02 behind third-place finisher Tyler Williams of Kent State.
"We tried something different this time with Sammy trying to go for the (NCAA qualifying) time on Friday," Guthrie said. "We had a long conversation about it possibly taking something out of her legs (for Saturday), but she was fine with it. She was competitive though, just barely missed third."
The Chippewas' Melvin Harris finished tied for fifth in the men's high jump, matching the season-high of 6-6 3/4 that he set twice this season at the Baylor Invitational and most recently at the Penn Relays.
Kelsey Ross, another Chippewa who looked primed for a top finish in her event, would have taken fifth in the women's 800 meters, but was disqualified for running outside of her lane.
CMU's Joesph Seghi placed fifth in the decathlon with 6615 points. TJ Lawson of Kent State won with 7640. Seghi finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles, fifth in the discus and in the pole vault, sixth in the javelin, and seventh in the 1,500-meter run. On the opening day of the decathlon, he was third in the 100-meter dash and in the shot put, fourth in the long jump, sixth in the 400-meter run, and seventh in the high jump.
CMU's April Micheaux finished eighth in the heptathlon with 4772 points. Jaclyn Siefring of Akron won with 5613.
Micheaux's best showing came in the shot put, in which she placed second. She finished fifth in the high jump, sixth in the 100-meter hurdles and in the long jump, seventh in the 200-meter dash, and 10th in the 800-meter run.
The Chippewa men finished sixth (of six) with 42.5 points. The women were 10th (of 12) with 26 points. Akron swept both the men's and the women's team championships with 166.5 points and 128, respectively.
The biggest positive for the Chippewas going forward is the amount of youth on both the men's and women's teams. Guthrie said that due to redshirts and injuries, CMU likely lost out on a 30 to 40-point team contribution from athletes who did not compete this weekend.
"The future, I'm excited about, for both genders," he said. "You know you just have to go through these bumps every now and again to reload and get ready to go and this weekend was a bump - a big bump."
Players Mentioned
