Women find success in Tennessee and Kentucky this weekend
It was another busy weekend for the women’s track and field team as athletes ran in Tennessee and Western Kentucky on Friday and Saturday.
Friday it was the University of Tennessee’s Sea Ray Relays and then a handful of sprinters and hurdlers traveled to Western Kentucky University’s Hilltopper Relays on Saturday.
Director of track and field Willie Randolph was overall pleased with how his athletes performed this weekend, despite facing a busy schedule and some tough competition. The meets at Tennessee and Kentucky, according to Randolph, were quality performances.
“The competition was strong at Tennessee this weekend," Randolph said. "It was good to see our kids come out strong and compete with some of the best."
Sophomore Bridget Doughty exclaimed that, over the week, she wanted to go out and stay aggressive while running and competing this weekend.
“I feel like I did well with that,” Doughty said. “I had great competition down there, so that helped fuel the fire for me and we brought a lot back with us that we can work on.”
Doughty finished third in the women’s 400m hurdles with a time of 1:02.06 in Tennessee on Friday and on Saturday she came in first in the same event with a season-best time of 1:01.24
“It felt good to improve, but I’m still shooting to go even faster,” Doughty said. “This weekend made me more excited for next weekend because I know what things I need to improve on.”
An all-important factor for Doughty and the rest of the Chippewas that enabled them to stay aggressive was the weather. Competing in Tennessee and Kentucky was a drastic change to the cold and damp conditions that have plagued the Midwest in recent weeks.
“It was between 60-70 and sunny both days, so it was ideal weather conditions for us,” Doughty said.
Doughty was not the only one who made significant contributions to CMU’s effort. Junior Shawntoreah Turk had a quality weekend down south as well. She finished in 13th on Friday in the 400m with a time of 57.27. She improved drastically on Saturday in at Western Kentucky where she finished in 10th in the 200m, earning a time of 25.40 along the way.
“Everyone got good marks, so it makes us more excited for what’s to come,” Doughty said.
The Chippewas also did a good job at increasing the number of Mid-American Conference qualifiers over the weekend. Freshman Marsielle McBeam and junior Sam Stein both qualified in the high jump with equal marks of 5-06. Adding to the qualifying marks was junior Krista Parks, who finished in the 5,000m with a time of 17:02.29. Senior Maddie Ribant had a time of 10:36.06 in the steeplechase competition and is now ranked 29th out of 48 athletes in the East Region.
An overall successful weekend for the Chippewas has Randolph pleased with his athletes.
“We used this weekend to prepare for the MAC Championship meet," Randolph said. "Competing on back-to-back days tested this group of kids and they stepped up"
