O'Neil Wins 10,000; Chippewa Women Tied For First

Thursday, May 9

Muncie, Ind.

Central Michigan University

MAC Championships

CMU's Megan O'Neil triumphantly crosses the finish line in the 10,000-meter run on Thursday at the MAC Track & Field Championships at Ball State's University Track.

Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf

5/9/2019 9:02:00 PM | MTF, Track & Field

Photo Gallery

Solid start for both CMU squads at MAC Track & Field Championships

By: Nick Vuylsteke, CMUChippewas.com

MUNCIE, Ind. – Megan O'Neil won the women's 10,000 meters and the Central Michigan women are tied for first place after day one of the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Ball State's University Track.

The Chippewa women scored 29 points on Thursday, matching Akron for the top spot. Bowling Green (26) is third in the 12-team women's field. CMU scored nine points and is tied for third place in the six-team men's field. Akron and Eastern Michigan, both with 22, share the top spot.

"It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad," CMU director of track & field Jenny Swieton said. "We didn't score quite as many points as we would have liked, but we had some pretty good performances. It was one of those days where it wasn't perfect by any means, but we got some work done, and we're ready to go into Friday and Saturday to do more work.

"The biggest thing is once the running events start, we need to make the finals. We need to get as many people as we can into the finals as possible."

Friday's events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

O'Neil, a senior, won the women's 10,000, finishing in 34:46.53. She became the third Chippewa woman to win the MAC 10,000 title, and the first since Raeanne Lohner in 2010. O'Neil finished some 7 seconds ahead of runner-up Rachel Walny of Bowling Green.

Also for the Chippewa women, Megan McElroy was fourth in the javelin, 146 feet, 4 inches; Quiara Wheeler and Marissa Dunn finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the hammer throw, both at 184-6; Siobhan Szerencsits and Kasey Stanley placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the pole vault, both at 11-8 ½.

For the CMU men, Avery Joseph was third in the javelin, 198-9; and Mark Beckmann placed sixth in the 10,000 in 31:56.93.

MULTIS
CMU's April Micheaux is in first place in the women's heptathlon with 3,075 points, while teammate Alexandria Robinson is fourth with 2,948. CMU's Joseph Seghi is eighth in the decathlon with 3,061 points.

Micheaux was first in the shot put (42-0), second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.51), second in the 200 (25.72), and 11^th in the high hump (4-11 ½). Robinson was first in the high jump (5-6 ½), fourth in the 100 hurdles (14.65), sixth in the shot put (33-4), and 14^th in the 200 (27.41).

Seghi was fifth in the 400 (52.41), sixth in the shot put (37-10 ½), eighth in the 100 (11.54), eighth in the high jump (5-5 ¼), and ninth in the long jump (18-7 ¾).

MOVING ON
CMU's Jackson Blanchard and Dante Lander both qualified for the final in the men's 400 hurdles. Blanchard won hsis heat in 53.08, while Lander finished in 54.78, and placing eighth.

Jack Dodge qualified for the final in the men's 200, placing third in his heat at 21.21.

Nadia Williams and Gabriella Beauvais qualified for the final in the women's 200. Williams placed sixth in her heat at 24.21, while Beauvais (24.25) was seventh.