The SVSU men’s and women’s track and field teams turned in strong performances over the weekend. That included provisional results, a school record and a sixth and 11th place finish respectively in the separately judged Saturday event at the 2019 GVSU Big Meet.
The meet featured a strong field comprised of several Division I programs.
On Friday, Feb. 8, senior Allison Dorr had the most impressive finish for the Cardinals, setting the school record in the 5,000-meter run. Her time of 16:53.60 bested previous recordholder Lauren Hill and was an NCAA provisional mark. She placed 12th.
Allison Dorr
The other provisional mark on Friday was set on the men’s side, as junior Travon Phillips placed fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.88.
“Overall, like any track meet, we have a lot of bright spots and a lot of good spots and then some spots where we need to improve a little bit,” said Jason Hartmann, the associate head track and field coach. “We
have two weeks to go until our conference meet, and we want to roll out a good team and hopefully a good performance across the board.”
Other notable finishes on Friday included sophomore Jenna Keiser’s 14th-place finish in the women’s 1-mile run. She finished with a time of 5:00.48.
In the women’s 5,000-meter run, senior Sophia Bradley placed 43rd out of a field of 148 with a time of 17:52.98. The 4×400-meter relay team of freshman Alona Olshevska, senior Andriana Higgins, junior Lauren Huebner and freshman Jordan Harvey finished eighth with a time of 3:52.14.
On the men’s side, senior Tom Goforth placed 15th in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:24.90. In the 5,000-meter run, senior Clyde Anderson finished in 14:51.17, good for 29th place in a field of over 200. Freshman Andrew Bond took 44th, and freshman Branden Bohling finished in 61st.
On Saturday, which functioned as a separate competition from Friday, the teams were ranked based on their overall finishes. The women’s team placed 11th out of 35 teams, while the men tied for sixth out of 27 teams. The two teams combined to finish tied for seventh.
“I thought our team competed very well,” junior Sydney Kreger said. “It’s hard showing up to a meet with so many competitive teams, but we showed that we
were just as competitive, if not more.”
For the women’s team, the distance medley team of Dorr, Huebner, Keiser and junior Morgan Fuerst provisionally qualified and placed 10th with a time of 11:57.11. Junior Angie Higgins placed seventh in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.88 and sixth in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 25.31.
In the 400-meter dash, Olshevska placed 12th with a time of 58.75. In the 800-meter run, freshman Lauren Buckner finished 38th in a field of over 70 with a time of 2:24.99. In the one-mile run, Kreger finished 18th in a field of nearly 80 with a time of 5:13.05.
Senior Dominique Adams also had a stellar showing in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 10:17.13, good enough for 15th place and a new personal best in the field of nearly 80.
“The GVSU Big Meet is always a competitive and fun meet that brings home many personal bests,” Adams said. “That race PR makes me really excited heading into GLIAC’s.”
“My performance played out exactly how my coach told me,” Kreger said. “My goal was to stay relaxed and focused in both the 3K and the mile, and then start making moves with a couple laps to go. That led to me winning my heat in the 3K with a 20-second PR and running a PR in the mile as well.”
In the 60-meter hurdles, Huebner turned in an impressive second-place finish with a time of 9.00. Higgins finished in eighth. Freshman Ali Aldrich placed 10th in the shotput with a throw of 12.80 meters.
On the men’s side, freshman Noah Dooley placed ninth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.27. Junior Juan Bowers placed third in the men’s 200-meter dash, finishing in 22.24.
Freshman Ryan Talbott turned in a thirdplace finish in the 3,000-meter run, crossing the finish line in 8:28.15.
In the 400-meter dash, junior Carter Eckhardt placed seventh with a time of 50.13. Senior Keith Rodriguez wasn’t far behind in 17th. In the 800-meter run, senior Riley Feeney finished 14th with a time of 1:55.33.
In the field events, freshman Brandon Keys placed ninth in the long jump, and sophomore Jacob Netschke tied for fifth in the men’s high jump. In the men’s shotput, senior Ryan Kelly placed third with a throw of 16.74 meters.
The teams will compete again this Friday, Feb. 15, in the SVSU Tune-Up meet before competition season begins with the GLIAC Indoor Championships, which SVSU hosts on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24.
“The hard work has already been put into the training these past months leading up to conference,” Adams said. “From here on out, the team is focusing on taking care of ourselves and doing the little things like stretching or getting the proper amount of sleep to stay healthy for conference.”
Reported by Connor Doyle, Vanguard Reporter
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