A school record was broken by senior Cole Walderzak in the men’s hammer throw. He finished in first place in the event at the MAC Championship and improved his national ranking. Walderzak will compete in the first round of the NCAA Track and Field Championship in Eugene, Oregon on June 8-11.

The men finished fourth out of six teams with a final score of 75.5 and the women finished fifth out of 12 teams with a final score of 67. In February, the men finished fifth out of five teams and the women finished seventh out of 12 in the Indoor MAC Championship.

“It was a very good weekend,” said Head Coach Mark Guthrie. “Nobody gave up and we kept battling, that’s how we ended up fourth and fifth.”

Women’s Final Standings:

Eastern Michigan: 152

Akron: 130

Northern Illinois: 110.5

Kent State: 104.5

Central Michigan: 67

Bowling Green: 52

Toledo: 46

Miami (Ohio): 45

Western Michigan: 38

Ohio: 32

Buffalo: 27

Ball State: 14

Men’s Final Standings:

Eastern Michigan: 159

Akron: 158

Kent State: 122.5

Central Michigan: 75.5

Miami (Ohio): 55

Buffalo: 50

The top eight finishers score points: A first place finish in an event receives 10 points, second place gets eight points, third place gets six points, fourth place gets five points, fifth place gets four points, sixth place gets three points, seventh place gets two points and eighth place receives one point.

With the graduation of consistently contributing seniors such as Walderzak, Guthrie issues a challenge to the returning members of the team to continue to improve and push the program in the right direction.

“We’re going to graduate some key people on both teams,” Guthrie said. It’s hard to come from where we were to being up near the front. You have got to keep working. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of determination. Everyone needs to be on task and on cue to continue to get better.”

Thursdays Results:

Walderzak won the men’s hammer throw with a toss of 65.70 meters, which is his best throw of the season. That mark not only ranks 23rd in the nation in the event — which will qualify Walderzak for the first round of the NCAA Championship — it also breaks the previous CMU school record in the hammer throw set in 2012 by Ryan McCullough.

Junior Kyleigh Young took second place in the women’s javelin throw with a toss of 44.17 meters.

Junior Dylan Banagis took third in the men’s hammer throw behind Walderzak with a throw of 61.68 meters.

Junior Kylee Dobbelaere finished in fourth in the women’s hammer throw with a throw of 57.78 meters.

Freshman javelineer Avery Joseph finished in fifth place in the men’s javelin throw with a toss of 59.09 meters.

At the end of Day one, CMU men (18) were in second place to Eastern Michigan men (22), and CMU women (15) were in fourth place behind Ohio (16) in third, Akron (27) in second and Kent State (31) in first.

Friday’s Results:

Senior Alyssa Dyer (10:20.47) took third place in the women’s steeplechase. Dyer qualified for the NCAA first round on April 28 at the Hillsdale College GINA Relays. She is the only athlete on the women’s team who is qualified for the first round.

Senior thrower Devene Brown (15.58 meters) took second place in the women’s shot put. Bowling Green’s Aliyah Gustafson edged out Brown by only .07 meters.

Senior distance runner Nate Ghena finished in fourth place in the men’s 10,000 meter run with a time of 31:18.59, while junior Kelly Schubert also finished in fourth in the women’s 10,000 meter run with her time of 35:44.10.

Sophomore April Micheaux took fourth place in the women’s Heptathlon. Her overall score was 4774. The Heptathlon consists of the 100 meter hurdle, high jump, shot put, 200 meter dash, long jump, javelin throw and 800 meter run.

At the end of Day two, CMU women (44) were in second place to Akron women (55) and CMU men (22) were in third behind Akron men (57) in second and Eastern Michigan men (80) in first.

Saturday’s Results:

Walderzak also won the men’s discus with a throw of 58.47 meters. His season best throw of 59.00 meters set March 31 at the Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic ranks 13th in the nation in the event. Walderzak is the only CMU male athlete qualified for the NCAA first round. He is qualified in both the hammer throw and discus.

Juniors Ziemowit Dutkiewicz (51.34 seconds) and Ja’Corey Lipsey (53.65 seconds) took first and fourth, respectively, in the men’s 400 meter hurdles.

Freshman 400 meter runners Benjamin Hayes (47.33) and Samantha Cuneo (54.29 seconds) both took second place in their respective races.

Sophomore Shane Moffo took second in the men’s 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.19 seconds.

Banagis finished in fifth place in the men’s discus with a throw of 53.85 meters.

Junior Tony Armstrong finished in fifth place in the men’s pole vault with a jump of 4.73 meters.

Junior jumper Melvin Harris (2.06 meters) finished in fifth place in the men’s high jump.

Ghena also took fifth place in the men’s 5000 meter run with a time of 14:51.85. The fourth place finisher from Eastern Michigan finished with a time of 14:51.39.

Final Results at the end of Day three: CMU men finished fourth out of six teams with a final score of 75.5, CMU women finished fifth out of 12 teams with a final score of 67.