The NMU indoor track and field team gave the competitors a run for their money last weekend at the Pointer Invitational at Stevens Point, Wisc. The Wildcats placed third out of 13 teams, breaking three school records and finishing in the top five spots in over 10 events.
Head coach Tom Barnes said he is extremely pleased at how well the meet went and is glad his team is progressing each time.
“We had a very good meet this past weekend and exceeded our expectations that’s for sure,” Barnes said. “I’ve coached a lot of good teams in my career here at Northern, but by far this team has been the best one. From here on out we will just keep setting goals for ourselves and continue to show the GLIAC conference why we belong here.”
Junior captain Catherine Angeli was also very happy with the results and said that the team always does their best.
“We work so hard in practices and we have such great coaches that it inspires us to go out there and give 100 percent all the time,” Angeli said. “From here on out we just need to stay focused on our events and continue to make those provisional marks so that we can stand out in our conference.”
Angeli placed first in the 200-meter dash (25.51) and broke her own school record in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.22, good for second. Freshman Samara White (5th), Senior Brittnee Balbierz (6th) and Freshman Katy Lafayette (7th) also placed in the event.
Junior Bailey Franklin finished second in the 55m hurdles with a school record time of 8.41 seconds. Junior Melissa Christenson finished third in the event.
The Wildcats 4×400-meter relay team finished fourth (4:07.02). The team consisted of sophomore Brooke Granquist, freshman Sydney Schultz, freshman Sara Turschak and sophomore Colby West.
Franklin tied for first place in the high jump with a height of 5-5 3/4. Christenson finished seventh.
Freshman Jaime Roberts cleared six inches more than her nearest competitor, winning the pole vault with a jump of 11-7 3/4. Turschak came in 7th place in the event.
Christenson placed in her third event of the day as she was seventh in the long jump with a distance of 16-8 1/2
Franklin jumped a length of 36-3 in the triple jump for second place. R. Freshman Delaney Lovett was fifth in the event.
The Wildcats will travel to Duluth, Minn. on Feb. 11 to attend the Lake Superior Challenge meet. The meet will host six schools from around the GLIAC league and will contain more than 20 events.
The ’Cats will then have a two week break until the GLIAC Conference Championships which will be on Feb. 25.
Head coach Tom Barnes expects some good performances from his team in upcoming Lake Superior Challenge but they won’t be performing in too many events.
“We won’t be participating in as many events as we usually do since the GLIAC Conference Championships is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean we will take it easy either,” Barnes said. “The main focus of this meet is to gain a little more experience, try to get some outstanding performances and times, and just do what we do best.”
