SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Alma College track and field team traveled south to Spring Arbor University for the Bill Bippes Cougar Classic on Saturday, April 12th. Alma again made steady improvements on the outdoor season with underclassman continuing to make positive strides.
Starting with the men, Trace Laskey competed in the 110-meter hurdles, where he collected a sixth-place finish with a time of 16.65. Tristian Gist finished tenth in the 200 meters with a time of 13.29, one hundredth of a second faster than his teammate Phillip Banner, who finished 11th. Aiden Tornberg, competing in his third collegiate event, finished third in the 400-meter race, with a time of 51.68, a personal best. Right behind Tornberg was Banner, woi finished fourth with a time of 51.69, a personal best as well. Will Maginity also raced in the 400 meters, finishing in ninth with a time of 52.65. Again, in the hurdles, Laskey competed this time in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing sixth again with a time of 59.65, a personal best for the freshman. Moving towards distance results, Noah Murphy ran in the men's 10K, with a time of 35.22.17, which was also a personal best.
In field events, Ryan McGuire picked up multiple top ten finishes, with one coming in the discus throw, where he placed fifth, with a throw of 39.42 meters. McGuire also finished sixth in the hammer throw, reaching a mark of 45.83 meters, again a personal record. Competing in his third collegiate as well, Joshua Oziwele finished first in the men's high jump, clearing the bar at a personal best 1.80 meters. Ed Markarian also collected several top-ten finishes, with his first coming in the javelin throw, 43.91 meters, his new personal record. Markarian also finished eighth in the long jump, jumping 5.72 meters. Markarian collected his last solid finish in the triple jump, clearing 12.01 meters for fourth-place. Leland Edelyn collected a podium finish in third for the pole vault, clearing 3.75 meters. Richard Semmelroch finished eighth in the shot-put throw with a mark of 12.74 meters, a personal best for the freshman.
Transitioning to the women, Dakota Booher nabbed a ninth-place finish in the 100-meter race, with a time of 13.38 for the Scots. In the 100-meter hurdles, Helena Snyder finished seventh with a time of 16.34, just ahead of teammate MaryAlice Lynch, who finished in ninth with a time of 16.90. Booher also collected a tenth-place finish in the 200-meter run, running a personal best time of 27.56. Lynch was just behind, also with a personal best time of 28.00. In the 400, Lauren Brawt was Alma's highest finisher in third with a time of 59.73, which bested her previous record. Olivia Giza finished just behind in sixth with a time of 1:01.42, her career best. Jenna Belmas and Kaitelyn Walker both finished fifth and sixth in the 400-meter hurdles, with times of 1:11.17 and 1:15.33, respectively. Belmas's time was a personal record as well. Finishing on the podium in the 800-meter race was Jordan Fox, finishing with a time of 2:24.61, for second-place. Sophia Sanford was Alma's highest finisher in the 15oo meter race, timing in at 5:19.09, a career best. Caleigh Winters timed in at 20:06.07 in the women's 5K, finishing in fourth-place. Coming away with the top honors in the 10K was Sophia Dech, running a time of 40:12.23, ahead of teammate Chloe Colton who finished third with a time of 40:46.70. Melanie Werner and Erica Slocum also competed in the event, finishing fourth and fifth with times of 41:01.79 and 41:39.22, respectively.
In the field events, Julia Haggart finished in ninth in the discus throw with a mark of 32.04 meters, her career best. Snyder continued her dominance in the high jump, collecting another first-place finish, clearing the bar at 1.56 meters for the crown. Brawt collected a fourth-place finish to go with her third earlier in the long jump, clearing 4.76 meters. In the pole vault, Lauren McCarthy and Alisha Isenberg finished second and third clearing marks of 3.05 meters and 2.45 meters. Haggart also collected a fourth-place finish in the shot-put, throwing for 10.59 meters.
Alma will now have some time to prepare before competing at Siena Heights for the Don Kleinow Invitational, a two-day event on Friday and Saturday, April 24-25th. Start times for each day of the meet are 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM.
