Track and field earn high marks at SVSU Tune-up

The SVSU men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the SVSU Tune-up meet Friday, Feb. 15, the teams’ final step before championship season begins next weekend.

At the meet, SVSU competed against teams such as Oakland University, Wayne State University, and Northwood University.

The teams will now set their sights on championship season, as SVSU hosts the GLIAC Indoor Championships on Saturday, Feb. 23, and Sunday, Feb. 24.

Jason Hartmann, the associate head track and field coach, said that hosting the GLIAC Championships is advantageous because the athletes can maintain their normal routine throughout the week.

“Being at home is a nice piece of it,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to look forward to and a lot of excitement.”

On the women’s side Friday, senior Andriana Higgins won the 60-meter dash preliminary race, but she did not compete in the finals. Freshman Maegan Noble placed sixth in the preliminary and in the final race. Higgins won the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.32, while Noble placed fourth.

Higgins continued to perform well in the 60-meter hurdles, winning both the preliminary and final race. Her time was a provisional qualifying mark.

Junior Lauren Huebner was right behind her in the final race, placing second. Huebner also placed fifth in the high jump.

The other provisional mark came on the men’s side, where senior Ryan Kelly provisionally qualified in the shotput.

“The provisional qualifying marks … are obviously good,” Hartmann said. “Anytime you can be running fast at this time of year is always encouraging, leading toward the conference meet. It’s nice for them to get the recognition.”

In the 400-meter dash, junior Samantha Warren placed third with a time of 1:00.41, while freshman Kelsey Landra placed fifth.

In the field events, sophomore Brooke Sutyak placed third in the pole vault with a height of 3.27 meters. Freshman Alicia Aldrich also put together an impressive performance in the shot put, placing second with a throw of 13.06 meters.

On the men’s side, SVSU secured the top two spots in the 300-meter dash. Junior Carter Eckhardt took home the top spot with a time of 34.69, while junior Juan Bowers placed second with a time of 35.27.

In the mile run, sophomore Brendan Nesbitt placed third with a time of 4:25.65. In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Cordell Richardson placed fourth with a time of 8.56.

The 4×400-meter relay team of Eckhardt, Bowers, senior Keith Rodriguez and freshman Noah Dooley won the event with a total time of 3:23.05.

In the field events, freshman William Kolcan’s 1.88-meter high jump was good enough to tie for second. Junior Jacob Kulhanek placed second in the pole vault. Kelly won the shot put with a provisional qualifying throw of 17.02 meters.

Rounding out the results for the men was sophomore Nicklas Endres, who placed fourth in the weight throw with a throw of 14.90 meters.

Reported by Connor Doyle, Vanguard Reporter

Connor Doyle

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