UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Alma College track and field team headed east towards Saginaw to compete in the Saginaw Valley State University Doug Hansen Open on Friday, January 24th. Both teams saw multiple personal bests as well as continued growth throughout the season.
Starting with the women, Dakota Booher set a new personal record in the 60-meter race with a time of 8.54 to place fourth overall. Lauren Brawt collected a second-place finish in the 400-meter run, with a time of 1:01.29, trying to close in on her personal best. Sticking with second-place finishes, Jordan Fox placed second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.61, setting a new personal record for herself. Tori Hatton and Calla Armstrong both placed fourth and fifth respectively in the race as well. Erica Slocum was Alma's highest placer in the mile with a time of 5:53.44 placing third, just hundredths of a second behind her career best. Sophia Dech finished on spot behind her teammate and was able to set a new career mark for herself with a time of 5:53.48. Slocum and Dech both raced the 3000 meters as well as Slocum came away in first and Dech finished just behind in second. Dech was able to pass her previous career best with a new time of 11:31.23 in today's meet. Helena Snyder grabbed a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.15, improving with each meet this season. Snyder also collected a first-place finish in the high jump clearing a mark of 1.52 meters. Brawt also finished first in the long jump with a mark of 4.89 meters also improving throughout the meets this season. Julia Haggart collected two fourth-place finishes in the shot put and weight throw events as well. In the shot, Haggart threw for 9.06 meters and in the weight, 9.81 meters, which was a career best.
Shifting over to the men's competition, Aiden Aldrich continued his great start to his career with a third-place finish in the 200-meter race with a time of 23.19, in his first time running the event. Aldrich's time is also good enough to put him into the top ten for the event's history for Alma. Austin Thompson finished one spot back in fifth with a time of 23.64, which was a personal best for him. Aldrich also collected a first-place finish in the 400-meter race beating his previous school record with a new time of 50.96. Andersen Strand and Will Maginity both finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 55.20 and 55.26. Benjamin Dickieson and Nicholas Malish both finished second and third in the 800-meter run with times of 2:19.64 and 2:22.36. Trace Laskey nabbed a second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.97, just barely off his personal best. Leland Edelyn finished fifth in the same event with a time of 9.57. In the field events, Ryan McGuire finished third in the weight throw with a mark of 13.83 meters, setting a new career best for the second-straight week. Callen Hagey finished fifth in the same event, with his career best mark of 13.58 meters.
Alma will now have time to prepare before heading west towards Grand Rapids for the WHAC vs MIAA Challenge on Friday, January 31st. The event will be hosted at Aquinas College and will begin at 5:00 PM.
