Record For Wheeler, A First For Grant

Quiara Wheeler broke her own program record in the women's weight throw and Mikaela Grant won the pentathlon to highlight the performances of Central Michigan track & field athletes at two meets this weekend.

Wheeler, a junior from Flint, finished second in the women's weight throw at the Eastern Michigan Can Am Classic at EMU's Bowen Field House. Her record-setting toss measured 64 feet, 9 ¼ inches, surpassing the 64-4 ½ she posted at the indoor-season-opening meet at Grand Valley State in December.

Grant, a senior from Fort Atkinson, Wis., scored 3,398 points in winning the pentathlon at the two-day Jet's Pizza Invitational at Saginaw Valley State's Fieldhouse.

Saginaw Valley State Results
Grant won the long jump at 17 feet, 8 ¼ inches, placed fifth in the shot put (34-1 ½), was fourth in the 800-meter run (2:32.09), finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.28 seconds), and tied for sixth in the high jump (5-¼).

"I know the work has been put in, and the numbers she put up are almost exactly what we sat down and planned out," said Tatijana Jacobson, CMU multi-events and high jumps coach. "She handled herself really well. She was confident in everything that she did. If something didn't seem to go quite right, she brushed it off, and moved onto the next thing."

CMU's Alexandria Robinson placed second in the pentathlon with 3,384 points. She won the hurdles (9.06) and the high jump (5-5). Teammate Alyssa Vandergriff placed fifth with 3,086 points. Her best finish was third in the 800-meter run (2:30.33).

CMU's Gavin Jaime finished eighth in the men's heptathlon with 3,848 points. He won the 60-meter (7.21), the 60-meter hurdles (8.64), and the 1,000-meter run (2:46). He was third in the long jump (19-7 ½).

"It was good for me to see them compete in the multi-events in general," Jacobson said. "Combined-event athletes usually compete different in their actual events than in an open event at a random meet. It was good to see all of them compete because they turn it on a little bit differently in an open event than they do in a normal meet."

Also for the Chippewas, Gage Shellenbarger was fourth in the men's high jump, and Alyssa Vandergriff placed sixth in the women's high jump.

Can Am Results
Junior Erin Howard posted the Chippewas' lone first at Eastern Michigan as she won the women's shot put at 50-1 ¼.

The Chippewa men got second-place finishes from Jeron Kelley in the 60-meter dash (6.96) and from Logan Targgart in the weight throw (68-6 ½).

CMU had three placers in the women's 800. Madi Mandelke was third (2:16.04), Maija Rettelle finished fifth (2:17.86) and Emma Fountain came in sixth (2:18.16).

The Chippewas' Emmett Smrcka placed seventh in the men's mile (4:24.70) and Mark Beckmann was eighth in the men's 3,000-meter run (8:35.71).

"As a whole I think that meet went really well," CMU director of track & field Jenny Swieton said. "We definitely saw improvement over last week. Quiara broke the school record again in the weight throw which is always good. The throwers as a whole had a great day. They are in a very good spot.

"The 800 was a highlight on the women's side with some PRs and season bests. The sprinters really stepped up. (Kelley) got back under 7 seconds in the 60. There a lot of great things that happened today. I think we are a step closer to where we want to be."

Next
The Chippewas are scheduled to host the annual Jack Skoog Open on Friday, Jan. 31 at the Jack Skoog Indoor Track in the Indoor Athletic Complex. It is CMU's lone home meet – indoors or outdoors – of the season.

Field events are scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.; running events at 5 p.m.

Players Mentioned

Mikaela Grant

Erin Howard

Madi Mandelke

Maija Rettelle

Alexandria Robinson

Quiara Wheeler

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