Chippewas finish third, begin to turn attention to MAC Championships
Unlike last weekend's outdoor opener, the Chippewas had decent weather for this weekend's competition at the Gibson Invitational at Indiana State.
Both the men’s (98.5 points) and women’s (93 points) teams finished in third out of a field of 13 for the women and a field of 10 for the men.
Indiana State placed first in the final standings for both the men (175 points) and the women (124.5 points).
“I think based on who we had there, being third on both sides was a pretty solid performance,” said Head Coach Mark Guthrie. “Way better than what we had last week, so I’m happy about that.”
Central Michigan went without the majority of their distance runners, top thrower senior Cole Walderzak and a few other athletes, per coach’s decision for this meet.
“We probably left a few points at home for both genders, but it made sense to rest them now to get them ready for the last run,” Guthrie said.
That last run begins in two weeks with the Jesse Owens Classic at Ohio State, one month out from the Mid-American Conference Championship.
“Most coaches (in the next two weeks) are going to write pretty strong training programs, whether it be strength, speed, whatever they need,” Guthrie said. “This will be a pretty good week of work. Our eyes are always on the conference meet and the first round (of the NCAA Championships). That’s what we are training for.”
The Gibson Invitational was three days, starting on Thursday and running through Saturday. Thursday featured the first half of the Decathlon and Heptathlon. Friday finished the multi-events, ran the 5,000-meter run and the hammer and javelin throws. Saturday featured all other events.
“I think we did pretty good,” Guthrie said. “We saw what we needed to see. I thought that the men and women we had here did a nice job.”
Final Results
— Senior Dylan Banagis placed first in the men’s discus (53.73 meters) and second in the men’s hammer throw (56.86 meters). Banagis was followed by redshirt freshman Kevin Weiler in second place in discus (47.70 meters). Weiler also won the men’s shot put (17.15 meters).
— The Central Michigan men’s 4X400 meter relay team won their race with a time of 3:16.22. The women’s 4X400 relay team finished in fifth with a time of 3:50.74. The Central Michigan men’s relay team holds the meet record of 3:11.76 set last year in 2015.
— Senior Kylee Dobbelaere finished in first in the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 55.31 meters.
— Junior Kyleigh Young won the women’s javelin with a throw of 41.74 meters.
— Senior Alyssa Dyer (10:38.84) and sophomore Megan O’Neil (10:48.85) finished first and third, respectively, in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.
— Senior Devene Brown finished in second place in both the women’s shot put (14.80m) and discus (46.94m).
— Junior Nicholas Malliaras and sophomore April Micheaux both placed second in the multi-events. Malliaras in the Decathlon and Micheaux in the Heptathlon.
— Sophomores Rebekah Petty (3.66 meters) and Sam Wagner (4.73 meters) both achieved second place in their respective pole vault competitions. Petty won second outright, while Wagner tied with Eastern Illinois’ Eric Gordon.
— Senior jumper Shaya Wilkerson placed in third in the women’s triple jump (11.58 meters)
— Freshman Avery Joseph finished in third in the men’s javelin with a throw of 55.00 meters.
— Sophomores Berkley Edwards (10.87 seconds) and Tina Davis (11.87 seconds) finished in fourth in their respective 100-meter dash finals.
— Sophomore Ali Taha finished in fourth place in the men’s long jump with a jump of 6.91 meters.
— Junior hurdler Ja’Corey Lipsey placed in fourth in the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.20 seconds.
— Sophomore Emmanuel Joseph placed fourth (15:29.43) in the men’s 5,000-meter run.
— Sophomore Lorenzo Wells placed in fifth in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 21.82 seconds.
