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Three Ashland University outdoor track and field athletes earned conference championships on Thursday (May 2) on Day 2 of the 2019 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships at Grand Valley State.
Junior Alex Hill won the league crown in the men's hammer throw – and earned 10 of a whopping 31 points the Eagles would post in the event. Hill's winning heave was 63.71 meters/209-feet-0, and he was followed by junior Nick Zak (second, 61.73 meters/202-feet-6), sophomore Brent Fairbanks (third, 59.82 meters/196-feet-3), senior Jim Toth (fourth, 58.84 meters/193-feet-0) and senior Stephen Pop (seventh, 55.42 meters/181-feet-10).
The women's hammer throw saw senior Mackenzie Leigh win a league championship at 59.68 meters/195-feet-9, leading a charge which ended with 23 total AU points in that event. Senior Natalie Helenthal took third (58.81 meters/192-feet-11), redshirt freshman Lindsay Baker was fifth (54.28 meters/178-feet-1) and redshirt freshman Carrol Pauley finished sixth (51.68 meters/169-feet-6).
Sophomore Romi Smith is the 2019 GLIAC champ in the women's javelin, thanks to a top throw of 38.55 meters/126-feet-5.
Ashland's men are in second place in the team standings with a day to go, compiling 59 team points to leader GVSU's 74. Saginaw Valley State (49) is third.
Senior Myles Pringle was runner-up in the men's high jump (2.05 meters/6-feet-8¾) and freshman Storm Elsesser sixth (1.90 meters/6-feet-2¾), while sophomores Garrick Manning (third, 5,942 points) and Travis Moore (fourth, 5,444 points) placed high in the men's decathlon.
Freshman Ethan Tabor took fifth in the men's long jump (6.91 meters/22-feet-8), while Moore was seventh in the men's javelin (43.86 meters/143-feet-10).
In the men's 200-meter dash prelims, Pringle (21.07 seconds) and sophomore Channing Phillips (21.28 seconds) each earned new provisional times for 2019 NCAA Division II nationals, May 23-25 in Kingsville, Texas.
On the women's side, the Eagles finished Day 2 with 47 team points, second behind the host Lakers (103). Northern Michigan is in third (32).
Junior Paula Wollenslegel took second in the women's heptathlon with 4,337 points, junior Samantha Didion was fourth in the women's long jump (5.48 meters/17-feet-11¾) and sophomore Gabrielle Ewing was eighth in the women's pole vault (3.20 meters/10-feet-6).
The third and final day of the 2019 GLIAC Championships will be Friday (May 3), starting at 11 a.m.
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