ALMA, Mich. – The Alma College track and field teams opened up their outdoor portion of their season at home on Friday, March 29th, as they hosted The University of Olivet and Albion College for a MIAA Triangular meet. The women's team came in first scoring 127 points to beat out Albion by two while the men finished in third with 97 points.
On the women's side, Lauren Brawt opened her outdoor season with a first-place finish in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:01.09. Brawt also finished second in the long jump with her best mark on the day being 5.15 meters. Brawt was also first place in the triple jump as she jumped 9.74 meters to lead the field. In the 800-meter run, Jordan Fox was Alma's highest finisher with a time of 2:36.89. Erica Slocum came in fourth, Alma's next highest finisher with a time of 2:43.28. Slocum also competed in the mile, where she finished second with a time of 5:53.39. Kaitriss DeGroft finished in third behind Slocum with a time of 6:00.63. Chloe Colton and Sophia Dech each ran the 5000-meters, placing second and third, respectively. Colton and Dech ran a personal best en route to their top three finishes. Helena Snyder had a solid day finishing first in the high jump, first in the 4x400 relay, second on the 4x100 relay and third in the 100-meter hurdles. Andrea Taghon notched a top three finish in the 400-meter hurdles, placing second with a time of 1:12.09. On the field side, Liathano Ramirez placed third in the women's shot put with her best mark of 10.46 meters. Ramirez also placed third in the hammer throw with her best mark being 38.52 meters. Ramirez's best finish came in the discus throw where she placed first and threw a personal best of 33.65 on her final throw to win the event.
On the men's side, Devon Frenchko and Jordan Williams both placed top three in the 100-meter run with time of 11.11 and 11.18. Landon Jennings placed second in the 400-meter run with a time of 50.69, Alma's highest finisher. Jacob Campbell led the Scots in the 800-meter with a time of 2:05.43, good enough for second place. Campbell also placed second in the mile with a time of 4:40.55. Leland Edelyn recorded a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with his time of 1:00.75, in his first events of the season. In field events, Joseph Gonzales placed third in the high jump, with his mark of 1.79. Edelyn placed third in the pole vault his mark of 3.35 meters. Ed Markarian scored a third-place finish in the triple jump as his best on the day was 12.34 meters, finishing just ahead of Gonzales. Markarian also finished in second in the javelin throw with his best of the day reaching 37.43 meters.
Alma will look to build upon their first meet successes to continue improving throughout the season as they build up to the MIAA Field Day. Alma will be back in competition on Saturday, April, 6th, at Spring Arbor University for the Bill Bippes Cougar Classic.
