Ashland University's men's and women's indoor track and field teams turned in memorable performances on the second and final day of the 2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday (Feb. 25) at the Niss Athletic Center and the Jud Logan Memorial Track.
Fifth-year sprinter
Cheyanne Davis not only won the women's 400-meter dash in 54.71 seconds, but improved upon her previous provisional time and set a new school record. The previous record was set by
Steph Tinney (54.73 seconds in 2010).
Another fifth-year performer,
Storm Elsesser, earned Men's Field Athlete of the Meet honors following his conference title on Friday (Feb. 24) in the men's high jump, and a third-place finish on Saturday in the men's triple jump (14.10 meters/46-feet-3¼).
Three more Eagle conference championships on Saturday were earned by junior
Wyatt Cory in the men's heptathlon (improved provisional of 4,978 points), the men's 4x400 relay team of freshman
Derrick Amapps, sophomore
Colin Roberts, junior
Jacob Pielech and sophomore
Noah Wood in an improved provo time of 3:13.75; and the women's 4x400 relay quartet of Davis, senior
Macy Creamer, freshman
Jade Avance and sophomore
Mia Gardner in an improved provo time of 3:45.58.
Ashland's men finished in third place with 105 team points. Findlay won with 182 points, followed by Tiffin with 112. On the women's side, the Eagles finished at fourth place with 89.5 points (Findlay first with 161.5 points, Hillsdale second with 128 and Cedarville third with 98.5).
NOTABLES
- Second place – senior Cameron Shifflet in the men's 60 hurdles (new provo of 8.22 seconds), Pielech in the men's 400 dash (new provo of 48.20 seconds), junior Emma Liberatore in the women's high jump (new provo of 1.68 meters/5-feet-6), and sophomore Sarah Masuoka in the women's pole vault (improved provo of 3.95 meters/12-feet-11½).
- Third place – Gardner in the women's 400 dash (new provo of 55.98 seconds), sophomore D.J. Duncan in the men's 60 hurdles (8.30 seconds), Wood in the men's 400 dash (new provo of 48.29 seconds), and sophomore Kelsey Kinsley in the women's shot put (14.17 meters/46-feet-6).
- Fourth place – Sophomore Caden Morris in the men's triple jump (13.99 meters/45-feet-10¾).
- Fifth place – Avance in the women's 400 dash (improved provo of 56.16 seconds), junior Cole LaRoche in the men's shot put (improved provo of 16.86 meters/55-feet-3¾), and freshman Cy Starcher in the men's 200 dash (21.87 seconds).
- Sixth place – Sophomore Dylan Phelps in the men's heptathlon (4,561 points), Starcher in the men's 60 dash (6.97 seconds), and senior Morgan Dennis in the women's 60 dash (new provo of 7.63 seconds) and women's 200 dash (25.11 seconds).
- Seventh place – Freshman Abby Wheeler in the women's high jump (1.58 meters/5-feet-2¼) and junior Alena Williams in the women's 60 dash (new provo of 7.66 seconds).
- Eighth place – Junior T.J. Skinner in the men's 60 hurdles (8.84 seconds), freshman Montana Walker in the women's 400 dash (58.14 seconds), and freshman Daylen Madison in the men's 800 run (1:53.35).
QUOTABLES
- "I'm proud of the efforts of what they all did," said Ashland head coach A.G. Kruger. "Being this is my first time as head coach, this is absolutely amazing to see how much kids left it on the line like that. I'm never going to say I'm satisfied because we didn't win, but how they competed and what they did, to be able to do it on our home turf…again, I'm going to thank again Dan Niss to be able to put this forth, and all the donors that put this forth, to be able to have it here, it's absolutely amazing to be able to do this."
- Said Davis, "It was really nice to run on our home track. We know this track. That (the record) is really crazy and unexpected."
- "It was definitely goal. I didn't know if I was able to do it," Elsesser said of the award. "I put it all together. Just being able to help the team, the individual accolades are something I don't care about all that much."
- "No matter what it is, one of our Eagles is going to move up into the next spot," Kruger said of Shifflet. "It's a lot of fun to watch that."
- "I want to say thank you, especially to my family, my coaching staff and their families, being able to sacrifice and allow us to be able to be here for such long hours. Everyone here at AU, everything that they have done to make this possible, makes my job easier."
UP NEXT
Qualifiers to the 2023 NCAA Division II Championships, March 10-11 in Virginia Beach, Va.
