Oxford, Ohio -- The 2021 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships begin today at the George L. Rider Outdoor Track in Oxford, Ohio. The two-day championship features 12 women's programs and five men's programs.

Events will begin at 9:00 am on Friday with the Men's 10,000, with the Men's Decathlon begining at 12:50 with the 100m. The women's meet will also begin with the 10,000 at 9:40 AM, with the Heptathlon begining at 12:30 pm with the 100m hurdles. A live stream will be provided on chatterboxsports.com and can be found on the MAC Championship central page. 

A complete schedule of events and live results can be found on the Indoor Track & Field Championship Page.

Akron
The Zips' men squad will be looking to capture its ninth outdoor league championship, having won eight of the last 12 league titles overall.
 
On the women's side, the Zips are seeking their fourth consecutive title and their 10th overall outdoor championship after capturing the crown in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
 
Akron under the leadership of 26th-year head coach Dennis Mitchell figures to be in the running for team titles on both the men's and women's sides again this year.

Ball State
The Cardinals are projected to score well in the sprints, where Etelman says the majority of BSU's opportunity lies. BSU owns a top-4 seed (or multiple in the top 4) in five different sprint events. Ball State's 4x100 relay team owns the conference's top time of 45.14, a school record mark and the Cardinals have their sights set on the conference record.

Bryeana Byrdsong, the 2019 MAC Outdoor Outstanding Performer, is the third seed in the 100m and 200m and runs second on that record-breaking relay team. Michelle Lehmann runs the relay's anchor leg and is the fourth seed in the 200 and fifth in the 100. MaQuila Norman (23.93) is the second seed in the 200m and runs in both relays. Ivy McKee leads off the 4x100 relay and is also in the 100m field.

Buffalo 
Multi-event specialist Christina Wende has had an exceptional outdoor season. She is set to compete in the long and triple jumps events as well as the 100-meter hurdles.
 
Priscilla Faa and Travasia Singletary will look to continue their fast strides in the 100-meter dash as they have had solid seasons on the track.
 
The men's distance team have shattered the UB all-time top-10 lists this season. Thomas Flannery, Sean O'Brien, William Hilbert, Ryan Buzby, Benjamin Cardamone, Scott Loforte, and Armani Merlino look to seize the moment and bring home major points for the men's team.
 
The throws team has had an absolute dominant season and looks to reach the podium in every event this weekend. Jonathan Surdej has had six top-3 finishes in the shot put in the outdoor season with a top distance of 17.43-meters. Rachel Donner will be competing in both the shot put and discus events. She'll attempt to bring home two gold medals in the events for the program for the first time since Becky O'Brien did so in 2011. Molly McCreedy will also attempt to win both events this year.
 
Sam Wray took home the silver medal in the shot put at the 2019 championships and will look to finish his UB career on the top of the podium. In the hammer throw, Caleb Nickens has had a terrific season as he set a new SUNY Geneseo facility record in the event.

Bowling Green 
The Falcons finished third at this year's MAC Indoor Track & Field Championships and place seventh at the most recent MAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, all the way back in 2019. BGSU has positioned itself for a push towards the top of the conference standings and have the No. 1 ranked competitor in the hammer throw (Kaila Butler) as well as the 1600 relay. The Falcons earned MAC automatic qualifying marks from Savannah Nevels (100, 200), Jemeila Hunter (100, 200), Iyanna Ross (400), Kailee Perry (1500, 5000), Zaresha Neal (shot put, discus), Ebonie Whitted (shot put) and Butler (hammer throw). All will be contenders for podium spots over the course of the two days.

Central Michigan
The Chippewas are a relatively young squad, albeit one that has shown a great deal of potential, growth and competitiveness throughout the 2021 season.

The Chippewas' strengths lie in the field events, specifically the throws and in the pole vault.
 
CMU senior Kasey Staley is ranked third and Sarah Griffin is fifth in the pole vault; junior Erin Howard is third in the shot put and fourth in the discus; and Quiara Wheeler is second and Marissa Dunn is fourth in the hammer throw.
 
Several Chippewas are eyeing a berth in the NCAA East Regional from May 26-29 in Jacksonville, Fla. In order to receive a bid to that meet, a student-athlete must have a time, height or distance in the top 48 in the region.

Eastern Michigan 
The men hope to complete their Triple Crown hunt. In the fall, the harriers captured the cross country title as they saw four Eagles finish in the top-10. The team bested runner-up Miami, 39-63, for the Green and Gold's second-straight MAC victory, Nov. 21. During the indoor track & field season, EMU pulled together a hard-fought win at the conference meet where it topped Akron, 184-176, Feb. 27. Heading into the meet, the men's team takes up 21 top-3 positions in the league across all events. Junior Baldvin Magnusson (Akureyri, Iceland-Hull University) owns the fastest 1500m run time in the MAC with an incredible 3:40.74. The Iceland product also boasts a 13:45.66 time in the 5000m, the best in the MAC by nearly 15 seconds. Furthermore, those times are both Icelandic national records.

Kent State 
Kent State has 29 student-athletes entered to compete, including 11 that rank in the top 5 in the MAC in their respective events. Scott Benco is the top-ranked athlete in the javelin throw, launching the spear 217'-8". He is joined by Bradley Heck, who ranks fourth with a throw of 198'-11". Jake Wickey ranks second in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 217'-10". The Flashes are positioned to score big in the vertical jumps. Kristian Kneffler (16'-10.75") and Lukas Van Der Watt (16'-6.75") rank second and third, respectively, in the pole vault. Gavin Schoeneman (6'-11") ranks third in the high jump and Brad Jones (6'-9.75") is tied for fourth.

Kent State has 24 student-athletes entered for competition, including six ranked in the top 5 in the MAC in their respective events. Highlighting the Flashes is Gabby Bailey, who holds the top spot in both the shot put (53'-9") and the discus (191'-6"). Grace Tennant ranks second in both the shot put (53'-6.25") and javelin (148'-2"), while ranking fourth in the discus (172'-2"). Vanessa Vodan ranks seventh in javelin with a top throw of 139'-5", but her personal-best mark of 160'-3" to win the event at the 2018 MAC Outdoor Championships is more than 10 feet further than any thrower in the conference this year. Leah Pasqualetti leads Kent State in the vertical jumps with a conference-best pole vault height of 13'-10".  Lillie Franks' personal-best high jump clearance of 5'-8" ranks second and Desiree Thomas is tied for fifth (5'-7").

Miami 
Coming Soon...

Northern Illinois 
The Huskies have the top seed in a pair of events as senior Remy Amarteifio (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) has a conference-best time of 13.54 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, which ranks in the top-80 in the nation. Junior Ashley Tutt (Channahon, Ill./Minooka) has the best mark in the MAC this year in the 10,000 meters, running a school-record time of 33:24.96, 16th nationally this season. 

Tutt is also entered in the 5,000 meters, where she is seeded fifth, while Amarteifio is slated to compete in the 4x100-meter relay. 

Other top-three seeds for NIU include senior Mackenzie Callahan (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) in the 800 meters, junior Diamond Riley (St. Louis, Mo./Ritenour) in the triple jump and the 4x400-meter relay. Callahan is also scheduled to run in the 1,500 meters while Riley is also in the field for the long jump, where NIU school recordholder Jazmyn Smith (Pinecrest, Fla./Gulliver Prep) is seeded fifth. 

Ohio 
Ohio has captured three outdoor titles in its history -- 1983, '84 and '94, and placed 12th as a team with 12 points in the 2021 MAC Indoor Championship on Feb 26th. 

Toledo 
Senior Petronela Simiuc is one of the favorites to win in both the 800m and 1500m events. Simiuc qualified for the NCAA Preliminaries on April 30 with a personal-best time of 4:13.62 in the 1500m and is ranked first in the MAC. She is also ranked first in the MAC in the 800m after running a time of 2:08.39 at the Joe Walker Invitational.  
 
Senior Stephanie Sherman  finished the outdoor season ranked first in the MAC in the 5000m and second in the 10,000m.  Sherman had an impressive second-place finish this season in the 500m at the Rick Erdmann Twilight with a personal-best time of 16:15.81. In the 10,000m, Sherman finished ninth at the Raleigh Relays with a personal-best time of 34:25.35. Maya Hannagan, and Claire Stegierwald will also be competing in the 10,000m.
 
Junior Semra Karaslan is going into the championship meet ranked first in the 3000m steepchase with a time of 10:15.19 at the Raleigh Relays. She is also ranked second in the 1500m with a time of 4:23.05.

Western Michigan 
Stephanie Negrete was the last Western Michigan track and field athlete to score in the discus throw, taking seventh place at the 2015 Outdoor Mid-American Conference Championships. The highest finish in recent times came nearly a decade ago in 2012, when Andrea Hiler took second place and earned Second Team All-MAC honors. The Broncos have not had a MAC title in the discus since Donna Wright back in 1985.
 
Senior thrower Aniya Davis is looking to change that this weekend down at Miami (Ohio). Davis enters the MAC Championships ranked second in the event, after breaking Hiler's program record last weekend up at Grand Valley State. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native reached a personal-best mark of 180' 2" (54.91m) and won the event, her fourth win in the discus this season.