The Northern Michigan University women’s track and field team had three athletes compete in the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C. on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29.
The athletes who competed were senior Cheyenne Stewart and juniors Christina Toogood and Brittni Wirtz.In the long jump event, where over 100 girls competed, Stewart came in seventh with a jump of 18-02.25. She finished second in her flight. “I felt like I could have done a bit better,” Stewart said. “But at least my jumps have stayed consistent throughout the season, which my coach is happy about.”In the triple jump event, with a distance of 12.07 meters, Stewart finished eighth overall.
“It felt really good, since I was in the elite section of the triple jump, where only the best qualify to jump,” Stewart said. “I still beat a lot of people.”Stewart’s results earned a personal best in her first outdoor event and she provisionally qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championship.
Stewart also competed previously at the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15 in Winston-Salem, N.C. She was honored as an All-American, setting a new school record in the triple jump with a jump of 40-7 meters with an eighth-place finish at the event.
In the Raleigh Relays 1,500-meter invitational, Toogood finished 36th with a time of 4:35.84. Toogood said there was strong competition against a lot of Division I schools.
“I’m quite disappointed with both my 1,500-meter and 800-meter,” Toogood said. “I didn’t run as good as I should be able to do.”Toogood said the athletes always get some new experiences in every race to take with them to the next one.
“This time I ran in some big heats,” Toogood said. “I got to experience running together with a lot of girls and how to maneuver and different tactics.”
Toogood came in 17th place in the 800-meter run at the Raleigh Relays and finished with a time of 2:14.81. Toogood said at the Raleigh Relays she was about five seconds behind her personal record on both the 1,500-meter and 800-meter events. She said she was especially disappointed with the 800-meter, since she ran her 2:10 race two weeks ago.
The third Wildcat competing at the Raleigh Relays, Wirtz, competed in the 100-meter dash and finished with a time of 12.24 to come in 39th overall. Wirtz said it was a fun weekend even though the weather was kind of rainy. Wirtz said the Raleigh Relays was a good start to the outdoor season.
“I was happy with my first race, but have lots to work on yet,” Wirtz said. “It was a good transition from indoor to outdoor and we all had good competition to start off on a good note.”Wirtz said some personal goals she has is to make it to nationals, and she would like to see her teammates meet their goals.Last season, Wirtz opened up the outdoor track season in Oshkosh, Wis., with a first-place finish in the 100-meter dash and a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
The ’Cats finished in third place last season at the event.The first outdoor meet for all of the athletes will be on Friday, April 4 at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The ’Cats will also compete Saturday, April 5 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Open in Oshkosh, Wis. Sophomore Jaylee Brown said she is excited to compete in her first outdoor college meet, and she can’t wait to see how her teammates will compare against tough competition.
“I wasn’t able to compete last outdoor season due to injury,” Brown said. “So I’m very excited for that. We’ve been getting some great training under our belts and been getting stronger and faster.”The weekend meets will be the first outdoor meets for the team as a whole in the 2014 spring season. Brown said she has some goals for the season.
“It can often get difficult to try and watch all the girls race due to trying to be in the zone, thinking about your own race and trying to warm up and cool down constantly for your own races,” Brown said. “I hope to set some personal records for the 800-meter run, which is my main event. It went really well throughout indoor season and I’m hoping to keep improving my times throughout outdoor.”
