ADRIAN, Mich. – The Alma College track and field team competed in the final event before hosting the MIAA Field Day's next Thursday and Friday. The Scots traveled to Adrian, Michigan for the Don Kleinow Memorial Invitational, hosted by Siena Heights University. Alma competed against a large field of opponents and saw solid top ten finishes as the conference meet approaches.
Phillip Banner picked up a tenth-place finish in the 200-meter run, clocking in with a time of 22.93 seconds, a personal-best for the junior. Banner also collected an eighth-place finish in the 400-meter race, with another personal-best time of 50.77. Finishing ninth in the 5000-meter run, Noah Muphy finished with a time of 17.24.74 in the field. Trace Lakey earned another top ten with an eighth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, coming in with a time of 59.76. Joshua Oziwele collected a sixth-place finish after his medalist finish last week, jumping a height of 1.81 meters in the high jump, which was a personal record. Ed Markarian was Alma's highest finisher in the long jump, finishing in seventh with a mark of 6.41 meters. Markarian also competed in the triple jump, where he finished third overall with a mark of 12.66 meters. Richard Semmelroch climbed the standings to eighth in the shot put, throwing for a mark of 12.54 meters. In the discus throw, Ryan McGuire finished eighth, tossing a distance of 39.87 meters for the Scots. McGuire set a new personal best in the hammer throw, reaching a distance of 46.06 meters, good for a fourth-place finish. Not far behind was teammate Callen Hagey, who finished seventh, with a mark of 42.86 meters, also a personal best. Rounding out the men. Austin Thompson finished fifth in the javelin throw, setting a new personal record mark of 44.33 meters for the event.
Transitioning to the women's events, Madelyn Strauss collected a ninth-place finish in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:09.37. Jordan Fox added another top ten in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:27.50, for Alma's best finisher in the event. The Scots took most of the top finishing places in the women's 5000-meter run, with Sophia Dech finishing third, Chloe Colton finishing in fifth, Erica Slocum in seventh, Melanie Werner in eighth and Caleigh Winter in tenth. Dech led the Scots with a time of 19:05.13, as Colton set a new personal best time of 19:23.21. MaryAlice Lynch came in as Alma's best finisher in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking in at 16.66 in the finals heat. Jenna Belmas came in seventh in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 1:10.86, a personal best. Kaitelyn Walker finished one spot behind in eighth with a time of 1:14.92. In the 3000-meter steeplechase, Sophia Sanford finished second with a time of 13:35.49. Moving to field events, Lauren McCarthy placed sixth in the pole vault clearing 3.00 meters along with Alisha Isenberg finishing in ninth, clearing 2.45 meters. Lauren Brawt collected a fourth-place finish in the long jump, reaching 5.09 meters, just off her personal best. Finishing top five in the shot put, Julia Haggart threw for a career-best mark of 11.32 meters for fifth. In the javelin throw, Alisha Isenberg finished ninth, reaching 23.61 meters, in her second time competing in the event. Kendra Walch finished tenth, reaching 21.83 meters as well.
Alma will now prepare for hosting the MIAA Field Day's on May 1st and 2nd, looking to crown some MIAA Champions. More information regarding the conference meet will be released shortly.
