Courtesy of MAC Sport Information Departments
Akron // Akron Invitational
AKRON, Ohio – University of Akron sophomore Sara Foster (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) captured the women's pentathlon title with a personal-best five-event cumulative score of 3,528 to headline the efforts of the Zips' men's and women's track and field teams at the 16th Annual Akron Invitational on Friday, Feb. 7, at the Stile Athletics Field House.
On the strength of a career-best time of 2:23.81 in the 800 meters, Foster catapulted herself into the victory in the pentathlon.
She placed second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.21, before finishing third in the high jump with a mark of 5-3 (1.60m).
Foster added a mark of 30-9 (9.37m) in the shot put before registering a career-best mark of 17-8 (5.38m) to place first in the long jump.
Turning in career-best times of 14:32.96, 14:37.52 and 15:06.29 to finish first, second and fourth, respectively, in the men's 5,000 meters was junior Andre Bollam-Godbott(Brunswick, Ohio), senior Nick Stricklen (Lexington, Ohio) and freshman Chase Easterling(Mt. Orab, Ohio).
On the strength of career-best marks of 22-10.75 (6.98m) and 22-5 (6.83m), junior Jayce Shaffer (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and freshman Haruki Sakai (Katori, Japan) took the top-two spots in the men's long jump.
Redshirt freshman Bobby Casey (Mayfield Heights, Ohio) and redshirt junior Brandon Hochbein (Sarver, Pa.) finished the opening day of the men's heptathlon with four-event cumulative scores of 2,800 and 2,761, respectively, to stand in second and fourth place, respectively.
Casey opened the competition registering a career-best time of 7.26 to place second in the 60 meters, while Hochbein crossed the line fourth in 7.36.
Casey posted the top-mark in the long jump with a leap of 22-10.75 (6.98m), while Hochbein recorded the No. 3 mark at 21-10.75 (6.67m).
Casey and Hochbein earned career-best marks of 37-11.50 (11.57m) and 37-5 (11.40m), respectively, in the shot put.
The Akron duo closed the opening day of the heptathlon with Hochbein and Casey recording marks of 6-2 (1.88m) and 5-10.50 (1.79m) in the high jump.
The men's distance medley relay squad of freshman Blake Lucius (Crestline, Ohio), junior Steven Ashcraft (Canton, Ohio), redshirt junior Jacob Ondash (Hiram, Ohio) and redshirt sophomore Oliver Huffman (Augusta, Ga.) crossed the line first in 10:16.51.
The final day of the meet commences on Saturday, Feb. 8, with action being split between a morning and afternoon session. Action in the Blue Division commences at 10 a.m. and runs through approximately 1 p.m.
The showcase of the meet will be Saturday's Gold Invitational, which begins with a host of field events at 3 p.m. and continues with final heats on the track throughout the afternoon. The final race, the men's and women's 4x400 relay is scheduled to start at 5:40 p.m.
Bowling Green // Akron Invtatoinal
Akron, Ohio – A distance medley relay team consisting of three true freshmen and a redshirt freshman posted the fourth-fastest time in BGSU history as the Bowling Green indoor track and field team competed in day one of the Akron Invitational Friday night.
The Falcons competed in just three events on the opening day of competition but will have a much heavier schedule Saturday.
THE DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY
Eastern Michgian Men // Meyo Invitational
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's track and field team earned a pair of podium finishes during the first day of the Meyo Invitational Friday, Feb. 7 inside the Loftus Sports Center.
Redshirt junior Baboucar Sallah-Mohammed (Arlington, Va.-Fishburne Military) captured the Eagles' lone individual title of the night, winning the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 15.92 meters. He has claimed first prize in the triple jump at each of the four meets in which he has competed in that event. Junior Owen Richardson (Basingstoke, England-The Costello School) also shined for EMU, as he represented the program in the 200-meter dash and took home third place with a time of 21.42 seconds.
The Eagles also put together a strong showing in the weight throw, as freshman Kappa Bedoui (Doha, Qatar-Aspire Academy) placed fifth with a heave of 20.58 meters. From there, redshirt senior Taige Bryant (Edmond, Okla.-Edmond Memorial) was 11th with a throw of 19.45 meters, while junior Chukwusom Enekwechi (Valley Stream, N.Y.-Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences (Monroe College)) finished 18th at 18.13 meters.
Sophomore Alec Frymier (Hilliard, Ohio-Hilliard Bradley) clinched a top-10 finish in the 60-meter hurdles preliminaries and a berth in the semifinals, placing eighth overall with a time of 8.18 seconds. He also ranked 19th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.05. Meanwhile, senior Sean Beckom II (Saginaw, Mich.-Heirtage) won his heat in the 60-meter dash preliminaries with a season-best time of 6.90, while junior Terrance Hinds III (Mineola, N.Y.-Amityville Memorial) also qualified for the semifinals with a time of 6.95.
In the distance events, sophomore Andy Payne (Worthington, Ohio-Thomas Worthington) finished eighth in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 14:39.13, while the quartet of sophomore Ronald Brandal (Huron, Ohio-Huron), freshman Trent Barron (Flint, Mich.-Carman-Ainsworth), sophomore Joe Ingram (Cincinnati, Ohio-Anderson), and junior Solomon Costa (Gahanna, Ohio-Gahanna Lincoln) placed sixth in the DMR with a time of 10:09.11.
Eastern will wrap up the Meyo Invitational Saturday, Feb. 8 inside the Loftus Sports Center. Running events are expected to get underway at 9:45 a.m., while field events are set to begin at 10:30 a.m.
Eastern Michigan Women // Meyo Invitational
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's track and field team concluded day one of the Meyo Invitational Friday, Feb. 7 inside the Loftus Sports Center.
Freshman Alyson Davis (Summerfield, N.C.-Weaver Academy for Performing and Visual Arts) won her heat in the 60-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 7.59 seconds, while senior co-captain Brittni Mason (Richmond Heights, Ohio-West Geauga) also captured first place in her heat with a time of 7.60. Also qualifying for the semifinals were freshman Hanna Hearn (Laurel, Miss.-Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (Ind.)) and senior Kolby Ganther (Park City, Kan.-Northeast Magnet (Garden City C.C.)), who finished with times of 7.63 and 7.70, respectively.
The Eagles also qualified three for the 60-meter hurdles semifinals. Sophomore Brenna Cavanaugh (Bentleyville, Pa.-Bentworth) placed 10th overall with a time of 8.70 seconds, freshman Daishon Spann (Coral Springs, Fla.-Atlantic Technical Center) was 17th as she crossed the finish line at 8.82, and sophomore Alysse Wade (Mansfield, Ohio-St. Peter's)finished 20th with a mark of 8.83. For her part, Cavanaugh also ranked 19th in the long jump with a leap of 5.57 meters.
Graduate student Allie Knoll (Warren, Mich.-Warren Mott (Wayne State University)) paced the Eagles in the 5,000-meter run, finishing eighth overall with a time of 17:37.1. Meanwhile, a trio of EMU sprinters finished in the top-15 in the 200-meter dash, as Ganther and junior Keypathwa Gibson (Toledo, Ohio-Roy C. Start) each finished with a time of 24.70 seconds, while sophomore Mair Edwards (Basingstoke, England-The Costello School) was 15th with a tme of 24.78. In the distance events, sophomore Nina Ward (Fairfield, Ohio-Fairfield) led the Green and White in the long jump as she placed 12th with a mark of 5.66 meters, while junior Kadian Clarke (Kingston, Jamaica-Immaculate Conception) was 15th in the weight throw with a heave of 17.60 meters.
Eastern will remain at the University of Notre Dame for the second and final day of the Meyo Invitational Saturday, Feb. 8 inside the Loftus Sports Center. Running events are set to get underway at 9:45 a.m., while field events will start at 10:30 a.m.
Miami // Meyo Invitational
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Miami RedHawks completed day one at Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational on Friday, racking up several PRs and top-ten finishes across the day's events.
Olivia Bechtel continued her phenomenal string of events, taking third in a very strong field in the 200m. She set a new personal best for herself, recording a time of 24.25. Now holding the best mark in the Mid-American Conference in both the 200 and 400, Bechtel still has yet to finish outside the top five of any individual event she has run in this season. Next to the 200, she also qualified for the semis in the prelims of the 60m dash. In the other prelims, Kayla Walters also advanced her way to the semis of the 60m hurdles.
Carly Davis was another RedHawk athlete with a big showing on the day. The senior broke her previous best in the 5000, running a time of 17:06.28 for second place. Davis holds the second-best MAC time in the event and is eighth all-time on Miami's program leaderboards. Katie Vitou also had a top-ten finish in the 5K, putting up a mark of 17:34.57.
In the field, Hannah Falcione recorded the best long jump of her career, jumping a distance of 5.45 in the event. Elsewhere, Addison Hoover threw for 17.03m in the weight throw.
In the men's events, Luke Finnegan was one of Miami's standouts after a strong run in the 200. He was another member of the group of athletes with a PR, as he ran a 21.80 in the event. This garnered the sophomore a ninth-place finish. In the 60m prelims, Jeremiah Hunter earned himself a spot in tomorrow's semifinals with a 6.93 mark.
The final event of the night saw yet another personal best set by a RedHawk, as Ivan Dye put together a run of 1:20.24 in the 600.
The RedHawks will participate in a full day of events Saturday starting at 10:30 a.m.
Ohio // Marshall Invitational
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- Junior Abby Moore (Rootstown, Ohio) scored a win for the Ohio track & field team at the Marshall Invitational this evening at the Jeff Small Track at the Chris Cline Athletics Complex, placing first in the weight throw with a toss of 18.65 meters.
Redshirt sophomore Emma Russ (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) took fifth with a throw of 15.09 meters while sophomore Autumn Mohan (Chillicothe, Ohio) finished seventh with a toss of 14.50 meters.
The Marshall Invitational will continue on Saturday (Feb. 8), with field events beginning at 10 a.m. ET while track events open at noon ET.
Toledo
Akron Invite // JDL Camel City Elite
AKRON, Ohio / WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The University of Toledo women's track and field team closed out the first day of competition at the Akron Invitational in Akron, Ohio as well as at the JDL Camel City Elite in Winston-Salem, N.C.
At the JDL Camel City Elite in Winston-Salem, N.C., Meltem Yasar stopped the clock at 9:48.69 to place seventh in the 3,000 meters.
"Meltem gave a great effort out there tonight," said head coach Andrea Grove-McDonough. "She was competing her heart out on the track, and although I think she'd tell you it wasn't a great result, it would have been a big personal-best just two weeks ago. So to have that kind of consistency, and be within a second or two of what she ran a Boston, tells me we are in a phase of her racing where her 'bad' days are what would have been previously been a great day. So she's fit and on the right day the big result will be there."
In Akron, the Rockets kicked things off with senior Atalia Lima and sophomore Holly Nation competing in the pentathlon. Lima finished second with a score of 3410 and Nation placed seventh with 2737 points. In the blue division long jump, senior Yana Khabina took second with a leap of 5.50m.
Up Next
The Rockets resume competition at the Akron Invitational at 11:00 a.m. with the weight throw. Track events will start at 10:00 a.m. with the Blue Division 3,000 meters with the mile to follow on a rolling schedule.
At the JDL Camel City Elite, senior Petronela Simiuc will race in the mile event at 2:20 p.m. and junior Semra Karaslan will compete in the 3,000 meters at 3:10 p.m. in Winston-Salem, N.C.
