While campus has grown quiet from summer break, the track and field team has had no time off as they continued to train for their remaining meets striving to perform well at the GLIAC Outdoor Championship and the NCAA Outdoor Championship. The team traveled to Big Rapids to attend the GLIAC Championships May 4-6 and walked away tied with Wayne State for seventh place out of the 16 teams competing with the final score of 44.60.
The ’Cats were able to score more points and move up two positions from last year’s competition while holding their own in a conference with many strong contenders, Head Coach Jenny Ryan said. “We have three teams [in the conference] that are ranked in the top-10 of the country. It just shows you how strong our conference really is,” Ryan said.
Sophomore Ine Mylle rose to the occasion with a first place finish in the triple jump (39-9.25). Her performance achieved a provisional mark that ranked her 13th in the country and earned Mylle All-GLIAC first team honors as well as qualifying her for the NCAA Outdoor Championship.
In the discus event, junior Jasmine Williams claimed third place with the distance of (149-9.) Her throw was a provisional mark and also earned Williams All-GLIAC third team honors. Sophomore Kameron Burmeister made it to the podium placing third in her first ever 10,000-meter run and also broke a school record with the time of 37:10.44.
Burmeister’s performance in this event earned her third team All-GLIAC honors. Freshman Michelle Juergen excelled in the shot put portion of the heptathlon posting a first place finish, setting a GLIAC multi event record with the distance of 36-6.25, and managed a tie for second in the high jump (5-5.25) and a third place finish in the 100-meter Hurdles clocking in at 14.88.
Riding the team’s momentum, freshman Shayla Huebner broke her own school record in the 400- meter dash crossing the line in 56.06 for a fourth place finish. Ryan said she believed that the team’s solid performance can be credited to hard training and overcoming tough meets earlier in the season.
“I think when we finally got there and had some decent weather it allowed everyone to have good performances,” Ryan said. “The team bonded really well this year. It was a really positive atmosphere and one person’s success helped feed another’s success.”
To conclude the season, Northern Michigan’s Samanthia Johnson, junior, took a trip to sunny Bradenton, Florida to once again represent the Wildcats in NCAA Outdoor Championships May 27 and earned first team All-American accolades in the discus throw.
Out of the 21 throwers competing, Johnson came in at sixth distance throwing 155-10 on her first attempt. She was one of nine athletes who qualified for the finals and the only one of that group who did not foul on any attempt. Over the summer, she will be returning to her home in Jamaica to continue her training and to compete in some competitions to prepare her to continue her success into next season, Johnson said.
“I’m aiming for top-three next year. Who knows? I could even win. Anything is possible,” Johnson said. Mylle qualified to compete in the NCAA triple jump but scratched due to an injury suffered at practice prior to the competition.
