MARQUETTE, Mich. – After a successful meet last weekend in the W-C-W Tri-Meet with five first-place finishes, the Northern Michigan track & field team will be back in action this weekend, taking part in the Ted Nelson Classic in Mankato, Minnesota, on Saturday, Feb.14th. In addition, a smaller group will also be in Allendale, Michigan, competing at the GVSU Big Meet from Friday, Feb. 13 through Saturday, Feb. 14. 

GVSU Big Meet Schedule
Friday:
4:30pm - 800m - Beverly Harper
5:00pm - 200m - Baux Truckey
5:30pm - 3000m - Sophia Potter

Saturday:
1:00pm - Distance Medley Relay - Ashley Choponis, Baux Truckey, Beverly Harper and Madi Szymanski
5:15pm - Mile - Madi Szymanski, Lamar Gordon, Ashley Choponis

The Ted Nelson Classic will begin at 12 p.m. E.T. with the weight throw, followed by track events beginning at 1:30 p.m. E.T.


Follow the Action
Follow @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X for updates leading up to and during the events.


Last Time Out
NMU competed at the W-C-W Tri-Meet last weekend, where they delivered five first-place finishes and an additional nine podium finishes.

The Wildcats finished in second place with 112.5 points, which helped them finish just ahead of SVSU with 104.5. Wayne State won its second W-C-W title with 118 points. 

Northern's winners were Sophia Potter in the 3000m with a time of 10:16.74, Dani VanLente in the 5000m with a time of 18:13.14, Crystal Walker in the long jump with a distance of 5.34m, Danielle Lund in the shot put with a distance of 12.6m (PR), and Alayna Vandegriff in the triple jump with a distance of 11.34m.


Last Time at the Ted Nelson
NMU has not previously attended the Ted Nelson Classic, but they've had significant success when they traveled to Mankato last season for the Maverick Premier #2 against some of the top competition in the country. 

At that meet, the Wildcats collected 61 team points, highlighted by a win, two runner-ups, and two more third-place finishers. In total, the Green and Gold saw 14 season-bests during the meet, with half of those being career-bests. 


A Word From Coach Jenny Ryan
Across the board, we had a lot of podium finishes and some great events. We did have about five kids who were sick that didn't travel with us, who most likely would have won an event or two. Even with that, it was really tight scoring, and we got second of the three teams, but we were only five and a half points out of winning it. So, I was happy because we had some great results, and I think it showed that we're strong in pretty much every event, especially against two teams that are also top teams in our conference.