Track and Field

The 2023 MAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship Begins Today!

Championship Central
 
Akron, OH -- The 2023 Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin today at the Lee R. Jackson Track and Field Complex. The three-day championship features 12 women's programs and five men's programs.
 
Action begins at 10:00 a.m. with the Heptathlon along with the Decathlon and other field events to follow, while Running Events will begin at 5:25pm with the Women’s 1500m Trials.

Tickets are all general admission and are $26 for a three-day pass or $13 dollars a day. Students will receive $5 dollar admission with their MAC school student ID. All tickets can be purchased here.
 
Akron Zips
The Zips have six student-athletes seeking to repeat as individual outdoor conference champions this season.

Senior Nuh Andu (Doha, Qatar) captured the men's high jump with a clearance of 6-9.50 (2.07m).

Redshirt junior Laurel Bristow (Pittsburgh, Pa.) bested the field in the women's javelin with a mark of 155-7 (47.44m).

Senior Amya Clarke (Christ Church, St. Kitts and Nevis) triumphed in the women's 100 meters in 2022 in a school-record time of 11.41.

Redshirt sophomore Hunter Garretson (Newcomerstown, Ohio) eclipsed 17-1.75 (5.23m) to take the crown in the men's pole vault.

Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Harkelroad (Huron, Ohio) crossed the line first in the men's 400-meter hurdles in a time of 51.46.

Senior Charles Sanders (Cincinnati, Ohio) won the men's 400 meters in a career-best time of 46.50.

Redshirt sophomore Jean Dieuvil (North Miami Beach, Fla.), Harkelroad and Sanders also return from the winning men's 4x400 relay team that crossed the line first in 3:09.43.

Additionally, a trio of Zips earned Second-Team All-MAC accolades as redshirt sophomore William Gross (Newfane, N.Y.) placed second in the men's hammer (210-6/64.17m), while sophomore Adaeze Nwokike (Benin City, Nigeria) and Clarke were part pf the runner-up women's 4x100 relay (45.76).
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Ball State Cardinals
The Cardinals competed last at the Outdoor Music City Challenge at Vanderbilt before taking the week to prepare for the outdoor championships. The Cardinals have had a successful outdoor season leading up to the MAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships thus far, and they look to finish the outdoor season on top.
 
At this year's MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Cardinals finished in second place overall and scored 83 points. This was their best finish since the Cardinals took second in 2006.
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Bowling Green Falcons
Bowling Green has had an impressive outdoor campaign, highlighted by Zaresha Neal winning MAC Field Athlete of the Week on five occasions. She is the top-ranked shot put and discus thrower in the conference and has won six of the ten events she's competed in this season. Her discus mark of 179-1.00 (54.58m) at the Texas Relays is the second-best in school history, trailing only her school record mark of 181-6.00 (55.34m) from 2022. Also earning MAC Field Athlete of the Week was Brianna Richard, who was honored after logging the conference's best triple jump mark of the season. It was also a PR and ranks her second in school history. Richard also had a long jump PR this season, which puts fourth in the record book. Also ranking fourth in school history is Mateya Haintz, who has competed in the hammer throw for the first time in her BGSU career. She has placed in the top three at all six meets this season and ranks first in the MAC.
 
Several other athletes have added their name to the Falcon record book, including senior sprinter Jemeila Hunter, who ran the fifth-best wind-aided 200 at the We Fly Challenge (23.99, +3.6). Freshman Kylee Cubbison ranks fifth in the 1500 and sixth in the 5K, with fellow first-year Izzy Best ranking 10th in the 1500. The freshmen class has also made history in the 100 hurdles and triple jump. DaMya Barker and Morgan Patterson rank sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 100 hurdles, with Bianca Staples and Sabrina Imes ranking in the same spots of the triple jump. The 4x100 relay team of Alexis Parchman, Jemeila Hunter, Brianna Richard, and Darian Braddix finished with a time of 45.78 at the We Fly Challenge, ranking them third in school history. 
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Buffalo Bulls
In the men's shot put, Jonathan Surdej will look for his third consecutive outdoor title after winning the event at the MAC Indoor Championships. A first-place finish would also mark the Bulls' 11th men's shot put title in the past 12 championships. On the women's side, Teasha McKoy ranks 3rd in the MAC with a mark of 46'6" in the shot put. McKoy's throw of 165'1 in the discus throw ranks 3rd in UB school history.

A pair of Bulls set top-10 program marks in the men's 100-meters at the East Coast Relays in Jacksonville, Florida. Jermain Ewers' time of 10.54 ranks 6th in UB school history, while Chineme Ononiwu's time of 10.60 ranks 8th.

Christina Wende aims to bring some hardware back to Buffalo in the women's long jump. The fifth-year senior captured the women's indoor title, UB's first women's indoor title in any event since 2015. Wende broke the UB school record at Bucknell with a mark of 20'5.25".

The men's distance squad has also seen a couple of records fall this season. Ryan Buzby set a new program best in the 5000-meters with a time of 14:03.84 at N.C. State, breaking his own school record by 9-seconds. Evan Hilbert broke the record in the men's 1500-meters, running a time of 3:42.64 at Bucknell.
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Central Michigan Chippewas
The Chippewas have at least one competitor seeded to score in 12 different events throughout the three-day event, led by Hayley Manners as the top-seeded long jumper after posting a 6.28-meter leap at the Clark Wood Open at the University of Louisville late last month, a mark that remains 34th nationally in the event ahead of conference championship weekend.
 
Friday's long jump will be one of many scoring opportunities for CMU: the steeplechase comes with high expectations as Emily Paupore and Anya Turner enter as the second and third seeds in the event as both have risen in the program's all-time top-ten list in recent weeks. Paupore's 10:25.73 from Grand Valley State University's Extra-Weekend Meet sits just-over five seconds from the school record while Turner sits sixth all-time.
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Eastern Michigan Eagles
Last year, the men's team finished second with 155 points behind Kent State University's 196. The women's team took third as they had 108 points, while Akron finished with 124 points to capture the championship.
On the men's side last year, Baldvin Magnusson (Akureyri, Iceland-Hull University) was named the Most Valuable Performer as he won three events. He won the 1,500m (3:47.52), the 5,000m (14:41.99) and the 10,000m (30:14.23).

This year's men's team returns athletes who accounted for 10 top-three finishes last season, with four champions and a trio of second and third place performers back in action this weekend. 
Almighty Williamson won the 110m hurdles in 13.73 a season ago, while Payne Wylie was second in 13.96. Dante Lander  placed fourth (14.38) as the Eagles dominated the event. 
In the field, Ousman Kamara  recorded a career-high high jump of 2.07m to finish second. Lander took second in the 400m hurdles with a personal-best time of 51.87 while Wylie came in third (54.10). 

The men and women's teams won the 2023 Indoor Track and Field Championships and head Coach Sue Parks, was the Coach of the Year. 
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Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent State has 25 student-athletes entered to compete, including eight who rank in the top-3 in the conference in their respective events.

The Golden Flashes are once again expected to score well in throwing events. Aliesha Shaw leads the way with a No. 2 ranking in the shot put (49'-9") and No. 3 ranking in the discus throw (163'-7"). Briana Wright enters the meet ranked third in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 181' that puts her at No. 10 in program history, while Meghan Daly is fourth in the shot put (47'-1").

Freshmen Matilde Carboncini and Svenia De Coninck both own a pair of top-5 rankings. Carboncini is third in the heptathlon (5,115) and fifth in the javelin throw (120'-9"). De Coninck ranks second in the high jump (5'-8.75") and fifth in the heptathlon (4,776).

Alexandria Verbancic is Kent State's top-ranked competitor on the track and is second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:01.40).

Lillie Franks (high jump) and Angelina Lotarski (pole vault) are ranked third in their events.

Kent State has 30 student-athletes entered to compete, including seven who earned All-MAC accolades last season.

Asa Hodrick enters with the fastest times in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash after taking gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m in 2022. Hodrick helped the 4x100-meter relay team place first and is part of the 4x400-meter relay team that owns the MAC's fastest time this season.

Alexander Shields seeks a second consecutive decathlon title. His personal-best 7,254 last month is nearly 600 points higher than any other competitor in the field has ever totaled. Shields ranks third in the 110-meter hurdles with a PR of 13.80 seconds.

Nolan Landis aims to repeat as discus throw champion and enters with a conference-best mark of 173'-8".

Del'Mario Hairston won the long jump last year with a personal-best mark of 24'-5" and is one of three Golden Flashes who could score in the event this year.

Jonathan Solomon owns the fastest 400-meter dash time in the MAC with a personal-best 47.33 seconds. Solomon seeks his first gold after claiming silver a year ago.

Scott Benco and Aaron Schmook rank second and third, respectively, in the javelin throw. Benco won the event in 2021 and finished second in 2022.

Alexandre Malanda enters with the No. 2 ranking in the triple jump (51'-1"). Malanda earned his first gold at the indoor championships in February after placing second at both the indoor and outdoor meets in 2022.
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Miami RedHawks
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Northern Illinois Huskies
NIU finished the regular season by winning seven events at the Huskie Classic this past Saturday (May 6), including the 100-meter dash where Skylynn Blue (Indianapolis, Ind.) ran the fastest time in the MAC this season at 11.41 seconds. Two other Huskies ran top-10 conference times in the 100 at the Huskie Classic as Kimone Hines (Hanover, Jamaica) ran 11.58, third-fastest in the conference this season, and Suerethia Henderson (Lima, Ohio) ran 11.86, eighth-best in the MAC. 
 
In the field events, Diamond Riley (St. Louis, Mo.) is seeded second in the triple jump with a top mark this season of 12.75 meters (41-10.0). Riley has placed in the event twice previously at the MAC Outdoor Championships, including a fourth-place finish last season. 

Last season, NIU finished fourth at the MAC Outdoor Championships, scoring 94 points. Along with Blue in the 200 meters, the Huskies are also the defending champions in the 4x400-meter relay with Roshell Rowe (Manchester, N.J.) and Kennedy Crawford (Douglasville, Ga.) set to return from last season's winning quartet. NIU also won the 4x400 meters at the MAC Indoor Championships earlier this year. 
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Ohio Bobcats
The Bobcats last saw action April 27-29 at the Drake Relays and the Mountaineer Twilight. At the Drake Relays, Sophomore Theresa Hagey (Akron, Ohio) made a strong debut in the 10000m as the champion, finishing in 34:53.10, running the fifth-fasted time in program history. Fifth year Stephanie Pierce (Fairborn, Ohio) ran a personal best of 4:28.10 in the mile. Meanwhile, at the Mountaineer Twilight, junior Imani Brown (Crown Point, Ind.) finished third in the 400m, clocking 58.39.
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Toledo Rockets
Lou Trois will look to defend her 1500m title this weekend in Akron. She posted a finals time of 4:19.45 at the 2022 MAC Outdoor Championships to claim one of the two Toledo individual titles in last year's meet. The Rockets has 12 podium finishes, including two gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. Trois, along with Emily Vining, Faith Linga, Semra Karaslan, and Stephanie Sherman all extended their season and qualified to compete at the NCAA East Regional Championships Meet in Bloomington, Ind.

This season, Toledo has recorded 48 top-10 finishes including four crowns and eight runner-up finishes. Trois holds the fastest 800m (2:10.26) and 1500m (4:24.90) times for the Rockets, while Bauer has the fastest 3000m steeplechase time of 10:47.47.

For the fourth-straight week, Toledo's 10,000m runners group ranked No. 11 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) #EventSquad rankings. The 3000m steeplechase squad came in at No. 21 in its second ranking of the season.
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Western Michigan Broncos
WMU finished 11th at the Indoor Track and Field Championships and saw its highest point total at the event since the 2019 season. Additionally, the Broncos had Makayla Perez collect First Team All-MAC honors, while Grace Johnson was able to nab Second Team All-MAC accolades. 

In terms of outdoor championships, the Broncos claimed 11th at last year's event. This the first MAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship under new head coach Kevin Cataldo.
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