Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams had strong showings at the University of Michigan’s Simmons-Harvey Invitational Saturday. While not as dominating as their performance at the season-opening Eagle Holiday meet in December, both teams competed very well in a deep field.
The women’s team, despite a solid performance, had only two champions. The first was Latipha Cross in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.28 seconds in the finals. The other champion was the 4×400-meter relay team, whose members were Danielle Clark, Morgan Yeadon, Aaliyah McKinney and Asia Rawls. They combined for a time of 3:49.81.
Despite having only two champions, a number of other Eagles turned in top three finishes for the women’s team, including five who finished in second place in their respective events.
Vanessa Clerveaux finished with a time of 8:40 in the 60-meter hurdles to take second place. Tatijana Jacobson also took second in the women’s high jump, with a jump of 1.75 meters, falling just half a meter short of first place.
In the pole vault, Alysha Newman also took second with a top vault of 3.75 meters. In the long jump, Tiara Oates was yet another second-place finisher for the Eagles, leaping to a distance of 5.48 meters. The last of the five second-place finishers was Makeda DeBardelaben in the triple jump with 10.70 meters.
On top of the two first-place finishes and five second-place finishes, the women’s track and field team also had two third-place finishes.
The first of the two was Ellie Braidic, who jumped 3.75 meters in the pole vault. The other was DeBardelaben with 5.43 meters in the long jump.
The men’s team, meanwhile, was also very successful. They had six first-place finishers, three second-place finishers and six third-place finishers.
In the 400-meter dash, Matthew Williams barely earned first place with a time of 49.83 seconds, just .27 seconds ahead of second place. The 4×400-relay team of Jairus Saunders, Chris Scott, Jason Ervin and Cameron Bolton won with a composite mile of 3:18.25.
Max Babits continued his early season success in the high jump, finishing first with a height of 5.11 meters. Grzegorz Kalinowski finished first in the 3,000-meter run at 8:27.25.
The Eagles dominated the 600-meter run with Tyler Ross, Ervin and Scott Bradley finishing first, second and third, respectively.
Donald Scott had a strong showing, finishing first in the triple jump with a distance of 14.39 meters and third in the long jump with 6.67 meters.
Finishing second and third in the 200-meter dash were Matthew Williams and Jeff Elam with times of 22.12 and 22.39, respectively.
Terefe Ejigu also took second in the 800-meter run at 1:58.26.
Saunders, to go along with his first place in the 4×400, finished third in the 60-meter dash. Harry Dixon finished third in the 1-mile run with a time of 4:16.50.
The last third place finisher was the other 4×400-meter relay team of Ross, Josh George, Mason Waynes and Fontaine Holland.
The other teams competing included the University of Michigan, Central Michigan University, Bowling Green State University and the University of Detroit Mercy, as well as several unaffiliated runners.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are off until Saturday when they travel to Allendale, Mich. for the Grand Valley State Quad.
