Chippewa Women First After Day 1 At MAC Championships

Friday, February 22

Kent, Ohio

Central Michigan University

MAC Championships

Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf

2/22/2019 10:26:00 PM | MTF, Track & Field

Day 1 Results

Record-setters pave the way as CMU seeks first indoors league title since 2004

By: Nick Vuylsteke, CMUChippewas.com

KENT, Ohio -- Record performances from Nadia Williams and Rebekah Petty as well as three top-eight places in the 5,000-meter run propelled the Central Michigan women's track & field to first place after day one of the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships at Kent State Field House.

The Chippewa women rolled up 52.5 points and they lead second-place Akron, which has 37. The CMU men are fifth with eight points. The meet concludes on Saturday.

The Chippewa women are seeking their first MAC Indoors title since 2004.

"I think everybody is fired up and is really excited about the position we're in, but we all know that we still need to go into tomorrow, take care of business, steal some points here and there, and get the points we're supposed to get," CMU director of track & field/cross country Jenny Swieton said. "There's still a lot of meet left, and like I mentioned before, it's going to be a barn burner, it's going to be close. So I hope everybody goes in, enjoys themselves, and kicks some butt."

FIRST AND RECORDS
CMU's Nadia Williams won the women's long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 8 inches, a Kent State Field House record. Williams also broke the CMU women's program record with a 24.12-second finish in a preliminary heat of the 200-meter dash. She will run in the final on Saturday.

Williams broke the previous mark, 24.18, set in 2002 by Kia Johnson.

CMU's Janelle Perry placed second in the women's long jump with a season-best 20-4 ¼.

CMU senior Rebekah Petty broke her own program record in the women's pole vault, clearing 13-4 1/2 to place second. Teammate Siobhan Szerencsits tied for seventh place at 12-0 ¾. It marked the third time this season that Petty has set the program standard in the event. She cleared 13-1 ½ four weeks ago in a meet at Notre Dame.

The Chippewas' Megan O'Neil, Hannah Davis and Kristen Olling placed second, fourth and seventh, respectively, in the women's 5,000. O'Neil's time was 16:37.32, Davis came in at 16:41.62, and Olling finished in 17:00.48. The trio combined to score 15 points for the Chippewas in the event.

By virtue of her win in the long jump, Williams earned First Team All-MAC honors, while second-place finishers Petty, Perry and O'Neil garnered Second Team All-MAC accolades.

OTHER CMU SCORERS
• Logan Targgart placed third in the men's weight throw at 64-3 3/4.

• Alexandria Robinson placed third in the women's pentathlon with 3,462 points. Robinson tied for fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.08 seconds), tied for third in the high jump (5-4 ¼), was sixth in the shot put (33-1 ¼), was third in the long jump (17-10 ¾), and was 12^th in the 800-meter run (2:39.67).

• April Micheaux finished eighth in the pentathlon with 3,351 points.

• Quiara Wheeler placed sixth in the women's weight throw at 61-5.

• CMU's men's distance medley relay team of William Finch, Roshawn Morton, Ben Yagiela and Luke Anderson finished fifth, 10:32.83.

ADVANCING
While Williams broke the CMU women's program record in the 200 to reach the final, she will have a teammate, Gabriella Beauvais, alongside on Saturday. Beauvais' 24.14 finish in her prelim also bettered Johnson's record set in 2002.

Perry finished in first in the women's 60 meter dash prelims in 8.36 seconds.

Samantha Cuneo and Beauvais placed third and fourth, respectively, in the women's 400 prelim. Cuneo's time was 54.65, while Beauvais' time was 54.73.

Jack Dodge, Benjamin Hayes and Gavin Jaime placed fourth, fifth, and sixth in the men's 400 prelims. Dodge's time was 47.85, Hayes came in at 48.09, and Jaime's time was 48.52 seconds.

Dodge and Hayes also finished third and eighth, respectively, in the men's 200 prelims. Dodge's time was 21.39, Hayes's time was 21.89.

John Mitrzyk placed eighth in the men's 60 prelim in 7.03 seconds.

EXPERIENCE PAYS
Swieton credited much of her team's success to the experience of her athletes, especially the veterans.

"The fifth-year seniors came up really big on the women's side," she said. "Petty breaking her (program) record in the pole vault was huge and going two, four and seven with fifth-year seniors (in the women's 5,000) was huge as well," Swieton said. "Davis had a huge personal record, Olling had her best 5K time in three years, and (O'Neil) was off by 2 seconds for her school record.

"Williams and Beauvais have been here before, so they have experience. Even Perry, who hasn't been to (the MAC Championships), but she's competed at a very high level before.

"They did such a good job at staying calm and competing like they knew they could. They didn't let the possibility of getting first place get to them. So experience showed."