NORMAL, Ill. - In the first outdoor meet of the season, the Northern Michigan Track & Field team shined under rainy and windy conditions at the Redbird Challenge, tying for 2nd place of 14 teams.
The Green and Gold earned a trio of wins on the day, all coming from seniors in their final outdoor opener.
Skylar Grubb bested the field in the 5000m race while the hurdles proved to be no hurdle for the Wildcats, as their two first-place finishes came from
Crystal Walker in the 100m hurdle race and from
Ahna Larson in the 400m version.
Northern had three other podium finishes, with
Sophia Potter taking 2nd in the 5000m,
Adelyn Sanders placing 3rd in the shot put, and Dani VanLente taking 3rd in the 3000m steeplechase. The 'Cats also had seven other finishes in the top-5.
In total, NMU collected 89 points along with Bradley for its runner-up team finish, only being outdone by Division I and host Illinois State with 119.
On the Track
Skylar Grubb out-ran the competition in the longest race of the day, the 5000m. She crossed first with a time of 18:18.46 while teammate
Sophia Potter followed in 2nd place at 18:24.44.
Claire Waligorski rounded out the race's top-five, crossing at 19:09.66 for 5th.
In the 100m hurdles,
Crystal Walker carried over her success from last season with a victory to open up her senior campaign. She finished at 14.17.
Sofi Diop finished in 6th with a time of 15.06.
In the 400m hurdles,
Ahna Larson claimed another top finish for the Green and Gold with a time of 1:04.15.
In the 800,
Beverly Harper finished in 5th with a time of 2:16.66. Cutting the distance in half,
Ciara Ostrenga earned an 8th place finish in the 400m race, crossing at 1:00.16.
Four 'Cats ran in the 3000m steeplechase, placing 3rd-6th.
Dani Van Lente crossed at 11:34.98 followed by
Emma Sweeney at 11:48.87,
Anya VanSweden at 11:52.25, and
Paige Anderson at 12:35.64.
Van Lente, VanSweden, Anderson, and Sweeney following a rainy 3000m steeplechase
In the Field
In the shot put,
Adelyn Sanders found the podium with a 3rd-place finish. She threw a distance of 11.57m.
Walker collected another top-5 finish in the long jump, hitting a mark of 5.44m.
Wilme Els also garnered a 5th-place finish in the javelin, throwing a distance of 34.61m.
Sofi Diop then made it a third 5th-place finish for NMU in the field in the final event of the day, reaching a distance of 11.21m in the triple jump.
Alayna Vandegriff placed 7th, hitting a mark of 10.87.
Teiolla Harvey placed 8th in the hammer throw by reaching a distance of 40.31m.
Full results from the meet can be found
here.
Up Next
Northern will head to the suburbs of Detroit next weekend to take part in the Golden Grizzly Invite hosted by Oakland University on Saturday, April 5.
