Saturday, March 1
Ypsilanti, Mich. / Bowen Field House
All Day
Central Michigan University
vs
Mid-American Conference Championships
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Track and Field wraps up MAC Indoor Championships; Chippewas 9th, Paupore wins Bronze in 3000m
3/1/2025 6:54:00 PM | Track & Field
CMU Women finish tied for 9th of 12 teams with 30 points; 4x400 squad of Watts, Shamion, Munderloh and Garland 5th
YPSILANTI, Mich. — Emily Paupore won a third-place medal in the 3000m and the Central Michigan 4x400 squad placed fifth to score points on Saturday as Chippewa track and field wrapped up the 2025 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Eastern Michigan's Bowen Field House.
As a squad, the Chippewas finished tied for ninth of 12 teams with 30 points. Bowling Green won the women's team title.
The 4x400 team of sophomores Robyn Watts, Sophia Garland, junior Libby Munderloh and freshman Danica Shamion placed fifth with a time of 3:53.04 to score four more points for the Chippewas. Munderloh and Garland, alongside freshman Olivia East and sophomore Emma Janesak, ran to a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay on Friday.
CMU earned points toward its score via Paupore's two top-three finishes, the 4x400, the distance medley relay and a set of 4th and 7th-place pole vault finishes from sophomores Riley Nielsen and Emily Yoshino.
"I'm really happy with the progress our sophomores have made," said Director of Cross Country/Track and Field Jenny Swieton on the weekend. "Obviously, our juniors and seniors as well, but our sophomores have really stepped up and I think that some of our freshmen did really good at this level; you never know how they're going to do at their first MAC meet.
"I think our freshmen were just getting used to college-level competition at first. Initially, that was hard but now they're seeing what it takes and it makes it a lot easier to go into a meet mentally prepared."
Paupore, who won the 5000m title on Friday, finished the 3000m in 9:37.32 to bring home the bronze late Saturday afternoon, scoring six points for CMU.
"After the 5000m Emily just wanted to get into a race and compete," Swieton said. "She was just going to roll with whatever happened, slow or fast, and just try to compete with the people around her until the end.
"I think that it definitely played out that way, they raced a little more conservative and all hammered out the last kilometer, but that's just a much more fun way to run a race, than to solo it. I think it ended up really well for her. It's her best double ever at a MAC meet, with a first and a third (place finish), last year it was first and fifth."
Kate Jenkins ran alongside Paupore in the 3000m, finishing 15th with a time of 10:03.59, a personal-best for the junior.
Natalie Newcombe, who won the mile preliminaries on Friday, did not complete the final race on Saturday.
The Chippewa throwers rounded out the field events on Saturday morning. Emily McLean and Ereka Risner finished 15th and 16th, respectively, and Gracie Merrick finished 19th.
The conclusion of the Championships puts a wrap on the indoor track and field season, where CMU saw monumental progress as a team. In all, there were a total of 11 top-ten all-time performances, including four broken school records.
The Chippewas look onward to the 2025 outdoor season, which begins on March 27 at NC State's Raleigh Relays and Texas State's Bobcat Invitational.
"As a whole, at our throwing, jumping running, we're just getting better at competing on a weekly basis," said Swieton. "Coming into track season, some people haven't done that at all in six months and cross country runners don't compete as often, and it was really good to get us prepared to compete every weekend and to be competitive going into outdoor season."
"I always look as indoor as midterms, so then we look at what we need to improve on and move forward, and I have a good idea of what we'll be working on (in outdoor)."
As a squad, the Chippewas finished tied for ninth of 12 teams with 30 points. Bowling Green won the women's team title.
The 4x400 team of sophomores Robyn Watts, Sophia Garland, junior Libby Munderloh and freshman Danica Shamion placed fifth with a time of 3:53.04 to score four more points for the Chippewas. Munderloh and Garland, alongside freshman Olivia East and sophomore Emma Janesak, ran to a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay on Friday.
CMU earned points toward its score via Paupore's two top-three finishes, the 4x400, the distance medley relay and a set of 4th and 7th-place pole vault finishes from sophomores Riley Nielsen and Emily Yoshino.
"I'm really happy with the progress our sophomores have made," said Director of Cross Country/Track and Field Jenny Swieton on the weekend. "Obviously, our juniors and seniors as well, but our sophomores have really stepped up and I think that some of our freshmen did really good at this level; you never know how they're going to do at their first MAC meet.
"I think our freshmen were just getting used to college-level competition at first. Initially, that was hard but now they're seeing what it takes and it makes it a lot easier to go into a meet mentally prepared."
Paupore, who won the 5000m title on Friday, finished the 3000m in 9:37.32 to bring home the bronze late Saturday afternoon, scoring six points for CMU.
"After the 5000m Emily just wanted to get into a race and compete," Swieton said. "She was just going to roll with whatever happened, slow or fast, and just try to compete with the people around her until the end.
"I think that it definitely played out that way, they raced a little more conservative and all hammered out the last kilometer, but that's just a much more fun way to run a race, than to solo it. I think it ended up really well for her. It's her best double ever at a MAC meet, with a first and a third (place finish), last year it was first and fifth."
Kate Jenkins ran alongside Paupore in the 3000m, finishing 15th with a time of 10:03.59, a personal-best for the junior.
Natalie Newcombe, who won the mile preliminaries on Friday, did not complete the final race on Saturday.
The Chippewa throwers rounded out the field events on Saturday morning. Emily McLean and Ereka Risner finished 15th and 16th, respectively, and Gracie Merrick finished 19th.
The conclusion of the Championships puts a wrap on the indoor track and field season, where CMU saw monumental progress as a team. In all, there were a total of 11 top-ten all-time performances, including four broken school records.
The Chippewas look onward to the 2025 outdoor season, which begins on March 27 at NC State's Raleigh Relays and Texas State's Bobcat Invitational.
"As a whole, at our throwing, jumping running, we're just getting better at competing on a weekly basis," said Swieton. "Coming into track season, some people haven't done that at all in six months and cross country runners don't compete as often, and it was really good to get us prepared to compete every weekend and to be competitive going into outdoor season."
"I always look as indoor as midterms, so then we look at what we need to improve on and move forward, and I have a good idea of what we'll be working on (in outdoor)."
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Vault
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Throws
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Sprints
/ Track & Field
Vault
/ Track & FieldFeature Interview with CMU XC/TF's Emily Paupore
Tuesday, June 11
MAC Outdoor Championships Day 3: Jenny Swieton (Interview)
Saturday, May 11
2024 Outdoor MAC Championships Day 2 - Jenny Swieton (Interview)
Friday, May 10
2024 Outdoor MAC Championships Day 1 - Jenny Swieton Interview
Thursday, May 09