Big Opening Day For CMU At MAC Track & Field Championships

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Day 1 of the Mid-American Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships could not have gone much better for Central Michigan at its home facility, Jack Skoog Track.

Quiara Wheeler won the weight throw and the Chippewas scored in multiple events, totaling 40 points to stand in second-place, four behind first-place Akron in the 12-team field.

"Really, really great day," CMU coach Jenny Swieton said. "We outscored what we were projected to in the events that we scored in, and we got some people to the finals from prelims.

"We live to fight another day. We have some big guns going (on Saturday) so that's super exciting going into day two."

The championships conclude on Saturday, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Wheeler, who is ranked 10^th nationally, led a 1-2-5 CMU finish in the weight throw, which has been CMU's strongest event all season long. Her winning throw covered 20.59 meters. CMU senior Marissa Dunn stepped up big time with a career-best 19.66-meter toss, and senior Maya Bennett was fifth (19.33).

"I think for (Wheeler) it was a little hard starting just because there's a lot of pressure, but her throws just got better and better and better and then once you have a big throw you can loosen up a little bit," Swieton said. "I think in general our entire weight-throw crew might have felt that way because they knew there was a lot expected of them, but they handled it really, really well. That just got it going.

"(Dunn) is a gamer. She gets it done when it counts, and she's always been that way. I love that about her. Twenty-two points in one event is a pretty good start to the day."

CMU sophomore Hayley Manners followed with a second-place finish – for eight team points -- in the long jump (6.03 meters).

"The throwers threw well and then (Manners) jumped really, really well in the long jump and I think we just built on it from there," Swieton said.

The Chippewas got a gutsy fourth-place finish from Emily Paupore in the 5,000-meter run, a fifth-place finish from veteran Kasey Staley in the pole vault, and an eighth from their distance medley relay team comprising Anya Turner, Peyton Korytkowski, Madi Mandelke and Lauren Beckmann.

"We had a lot of newbies participate and they handled themselves really, really well," Swieton said. "I think being on our home track has been huge for us. It allows the people who are new to the MAC meet to get over that hump maybe where if we were somewhere different it might be a little harder mentally. They might have taken on the pressure of the MAC meet a little more. But being at home it's more like practice so it allows them to kind of push that aside and just perform like they do every day."

Paupore's performance was inspiring, Swieton said, considering that she is just a freshman.

"To get fourth in this conference in the 5K is a really big deal, especially since she ran a 25-, 30-second PR," she said. "That was big. She was not afraid. She sat in that position and when she felt like (the pace) was slowing down she took the lead and made sure it stayed honest and she reaped the rewards of that. It was a really veteran performance out of a newbie which is super encouraging."

Paupore wasn't the only youngster to step up. Redshirt freshman Reghan Draper and true freshman Kaitlynn Rush both advanced to Saturday's 60-meter dash final, finishing third and fifth, respectively, in the prelim.

"They PR'd big to make the finals," Swieton said. "That was huge. That gave us a big jolt of energy. That was big for us."

The distance medley relay squad comprises two freshmen and two sophomores. Their eighth-place finish netted the Chippewas one team point, but their performance is likely to pay dividends down the road, Swieton said.

"That's just one point, but they're all first-time (MAC Championships) scorers, so we made it over that hump," she said. "They have all scored in the MAC meet now so it's going to be easier to do it in the future."

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Players Mentioned

Lauren Beckmann

Maya Bennett

Reghan Draper

Marissa Dunn

Peyton Korytkowski

Madi Mandelke

Hayley Manners

Emily Paupore

Kaitlynn Rush

Kasey Staley

Anya Turner

Quiara Wheeler