SVSU track and field kicked off its indoor season with the SVSU Holiday Open on Dec. 3 – 4.
The event consisted of the women’s pentathlon and the men’s heptathlon.
Senior Dan Westarb dominated at the event, placing first in the 60-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, hurdles and pole vault.
Senior Kelsey Landra took first overall of the pentathlon placing first in the 60-meter hurdle, high jump, and 800-meter run.
In the men’s 5000-meter race, junior Thomas Hufton placed second with a time of 14.46.78, senior Alex Grifka and sophomore Noah Verlinde followed close behind in sixth and seventh respectively.
In the women’s 60-meter dash, junior Cheyen Williamson came in first place with a time of 8.38 seconds ahead of Rosefer Philogene from Oakland University.
She also placed first in the women’s long jump event.
Evelyn Kammeyer, an assistant coaches for SVSU’s track and field team, thought the team competed extremely well.
“The women’s team has all the people to see an indoor national championship come to light,” Kammeyer said, “Our women’s team is absolutely loaded right now, and we are looking to capitalize on that with a podium finish at the indoor national championships; all but one of the women who competed at the National meet last year are returning, and we are also adding some younger athletes who are poised to make a splash on the big stage.”
The men’s team things also look promising, she said.
“The men lost very few pieces from last year, and we are very excited to see what the young talent this year can bring to the table,” Kammeyer said. “CarLee Stimpfel and Dayton Brown are going to be two strongholds for this men’s program.”
Looking at last year’s work and the cross-country results from this fall Kammeyer sees a lot of confidence in the athletes.
“CarLee cleaned up the record board last year and is coming off of a 3rd place finish at the Cross-Country National Championships,” Kammeyer said. “Dayton was right there with him in training despite utilizing a redshirt this fall.”
Kammeyer sees the distance races as a strong point for the team.
“On the distance side of things are Brendan Nesbitt, Riley Feeney, and Ryan Talbott who were able to secure an All- American finish in the Distance Medley Relay last year at the National meet,“ she noted.
“Our goal as a program is to finish top 2 at the GLIAC Championship; it’s a big goal but we have the right talent to do it and they’re ready to get started.”
SVSU track and field will continue its season at home with the SVSU Classic on Jan. 14.
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