Draper Leads Track & Field With 3rd-Place Finish At MAC Championships

Saturday, February 26

Kent, Ohio

11:30 a.m.

Central Michigan University

Mid-American Conference Championships

Draper Leads Track & Field With 3rd-Place Finish At MAC Championships

2/26/2022 5:58:00 PM | Track & Field

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

KENT, Ohio – Reghan Draper finished third in the 60-meter dash on Saturday to lead Central Michigan on the final day of the Mid-American Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at Kent State Field House.

Draper, a redshirt sophomore, finished in 7.56 seconds. She finished fourth last season at the indoor championships and her first race of the 2022 indoor season came on Friday in a preliminary.

"We're really proud of her and how she's handled everything that's happened over the past few weeks," CMU Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jenny Swieton said. "She just came in and focused on beating everyone she could. It was a really good performance for her."

CMU's Tricia Pierce placed fourth in the pole vault and two other Chippewas turned in seventh-place finishes, Hayley Manners in the triple jump and Alexis Gourrier in the 800-meter run.

In addition, CMU's Jericha Petrella, Taylor Korytkowski, Peyton Korytkowski and Emma Francis combined to finish sixth in 3:50.88 in the 4x400-meter relay, the final event of the meet.

Pierce's top vault measured 3.75 meters (12 feet, 3 ½ inches); Manners' top jump measured 12.2 meters (40- ½); and Gourrier came in at 2:17.25 in the 800.

Manners' triple-jump placing came one day after she won the long jump.

The Chippewas finished with 35 points, good for ninth place in the 12-team field. Akron (117.5) was first, followed by Eastern Michigan (84.5) and Northern Illinois (70).

"Anytime you don't finish at least in the top half (in the team standings), it's a little bit disappointing," Swieton said. "But I'm not disappointed in the kids that we have here. The kids that we have here fought and worked really, really hard, and gave it everything they have. And for that I'm grateful and we really appreciate them.

"Now we've got to go home and figure out what we've got to do to make that better. We want to be the team that's carrying the trophy around the track."