Saturday, February 8
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
12 p.m.
Central Michigan University
vs
Chippewa Invitational
Photo by: Madison Davidson '25 - @_mld.jpeg
Chippewas dominate in home invitational; Nielsen vaults into top-10
2/8/2025 9:01:00 PM | Track & Field
13 event wins, 25 podium finishes and 21 personal bests for CMU
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Head Coach Jenny Swieton said it best: "It's always fun to be at home."
Central Michigan Track and Field had a blast on its very own Jack Skoog Indoor Track on Saturday at the Chippewa Invitational, showcasing its talents in competition with Alma, Albion and Cleary.
The Chippewas won every event in which they competed, totaling to 13 event wins and 25 podium finishes overall. Additionally, 21 CMU student-athletes attained personal bests.
Sophomore Riley Nielsen vaulted her way to the CMU indoor record book, clearing 3.76 meters to win the pole vault. Nielsen's height tied for 7th all-time, now sharing the honor with 2015 grad Micaela Conter.
"That was huge," Swieton said of Nielsen's performance. "(Jumps Coach Curtis Bell) has known that she's been capable of that for a long time, she went through a lot last year and it's awesome that we're on the other side and everything's starting to come together."
Freshman Alexandra Cinzori placed 2nd in the event, clearing a personal-best 3.06m.
Gracie Merrick and Emily McLean picked up a pair of wins for the Chippewa throwers in the weight throw and shot put, respectively. Amyah Chosa, a freshman, threw a personal-best mark in the weight throw.
Freshmen Hailey Hill and Kendell Wilcox each won their respective events, the long jump and the high jump.
""Today we had a lot of freshmen make huge improvements," Swieton said. "They're getting the swing of this college track thing, and that's a lot of fun. It was so cool to see our upperclassmen help out our underclassmen today, too."
Several more Chippewa freshmen made standout moves, including Nikki Carothers, Joanna Kelley, Miranda McNeil, Logan Brazee, Ava Teed, Jada Pride, Ciara Rosenzweig, Olivia East, Lois Creasey and Lexi Hurst, who all achieved personal-bests in their respective events on the track.
Pride won the 60 hurdles in a personal-best 9.41, followed quickly behind by Rosenzweig.
Senior Natalie Newcombe and junior Libby Munderloh led the way in the 800m, setting the pace for East, Creasey, Janesak, Hurst, Carothers, Teed, Brazee, Kelley, McNeil and Netzel, who followed in personal-best time.
"Over the past couple of weeks we've seen huge gains for our sophomores too," said Swieton. "I think they're showing that they're used to competing now and making those big strides."
Among those sophomores, alongside Nielsen, were Sky Austin, Sophia Garland, Emma Janesak, Emma Netzel, Chesney Wilke and Elle Himebaugh, who all made strides on the track.
Austin won the 200m out of 12 competing runners and placed 2nd in the 60m behind senior Kaitlynn Rush. Freshman Mireya Benjamin placed third in both events.
Garland ran a personal-best time in the 400m for a second-place finish, while freshman Danica Shamion finished 3rd.
Wilke won the mile in a personal-best 5:00.50. Janesak took third, Netzel fifth. Elle Himebaugh won the 3000m as the lone CMU runner in the event, running a career-best time.
Two CMU teams comprised the 4x400 relay to wrap up the evening, with the squad of Grace Jenkins, East, Munderloh and Creasey placing 1st in 4:00.93. Shamion, Pride, Wilke and Hurst finished 2nd in 4:04.12.
The Chippewas look to the peak of the 2024-25 indoor season, with Boston University's Valentine Meet on the horizon on Feb. 14 and 15 as well as the GVSU Big Meet on Friday and Saturday.
CMU will wrap up the regular season at Michigan's Silverston Invitational before heading to the Mid-American Conference Championships on Feb. 28 and March 1st, hosted by Eastern Michigan.
"Next week is a big one," Swieton said. "Since we're getting closer to MAC Championships, this'll be the last time you'll 'go big', we might have a few things that we'll do before MAC Championships, but next week is our big hurrah before then.
"I think next weekend is when everybody's fitness is at their peak, they can run their main event and see where they're at on the day. Everyone always gets excited for that weekend."
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