The Eastern Michigan University men’s and women’s track and field teams took a short trip to the Silverston Invitational in Ann Arbor Saturday for one final tune-up before the Mid-American Conference championships. Both teams performed admirably despite only sending partial squads, turning in very strong performances against stiff competition.
The men’s team had a particularly dominating performance that included three sweeps.
In the long jump, Ryan Brumfield (also a running back on the EMU football team), Solomon Ijah and Levi Selvig swept the top three spots with jumps of 22 feet 1 inch, 21 feet 11 inches and 19 feet 8¼ inches, respectively.
Tyler Ross, Chris Scott and Fontaine Holland did the same in the 400-meter dash. They raced to times of 49.45 seconds, 49.48 seconds and 50.06 seconds, respectively.
The last sweep was in the 200 dash where Matthew Williams at 21.74 seconds, Jason Ervin at 22.24 seconds and Chris Scott at 22.27 seconds took the top three spots.
On top of those dominating efforts, the Eagles took first, third, fourth and fifth in a thrilling 60 dash.
Cameron Bolton took first at 6.93 seconds, Bronson Hill (also a running back on the football team) took third at 6.95 seconds, Michael Aririguzo finished fourth at 6.96 seconds and Wayne Blanchard came in fifth at 7.03 seconds.
Many other Eagles performed very well. Max Babits came in a close second in the pole vault with a jump of 16 feet 10¾ inches, and came extremely close to vaulting 17 feet 3 inches.
In the triple jump, Donald Scott (a wide receiver on the football team) took first place with an outstanding 47 feet 10 inch effort and Ijah placed second with a jump of 46 feet 8 inches.
Mason Waynes took first in the 600 run at 1:22.91, and Khalil Boussi took second at 1:24.31.
In the high jump, Brumfield managed his second first-place finish with a leap of 6 feet 6 inches.
Meanwhile, in the 60 hurdles Jeff Elam placed second at 8.34 seconds, Bryce Lindsey took fourth at 8.40 and Selvig took sixth at 8.58 seconds.
The women’s team, meanwhile, had a strong effort of their own.
They managed to sweep the 200 run. Danielle Clark took first at 24.88, Aaliyah McKinney came in a close second at 25.04 seconds and Morgan Yeadon took third at 25.25 seconds.
They also had a few other first-place finishers. In the 60 hurdles, Vanessa Clerveaux took first at 8.3 seconds, and Alysha Newman managed to take fourth at 8.9 seconds.
Clerveaux also placed first in the 60 dash, racing at 7.60 seconds. McKinney took fourth place in a tight race at 7.75 seconds.
The 400 dash was much the same, as Latipha Cross took first at 57.02 seconds and Iesha Hardiman placed fourth at 58.42 seconds.
In the 800 run, Rebecca Quaintance managed a third-place finish with a solid time of 2:34.79.
EMU also turned in a strong performance in the long jump. Tiara Oates took third place with a leap of 17 feet 9½ inches. Makeda DeBardelaben finished fourth with her best jump being 17 feet 5¼ inches and Kate Wolanin finished sixth with a jump of 15 feet 1½ inches.
In the high jump, Tatijana Jacobson came in a very close second at 5 feet 10¾ inches and Wolanin took fourth at 8 feet 1½ inches.
Melanie Hill managed a fourth-place finish in the triple jump, covering 35 feet 5 inches. Lydia Gomez-Diaz also finished fourth in the weight throw with a hurl of 52 feet 2 inches.
Both teams now turn their eyes towards the MAC indoor championships, which will be next Friday and Saturday at Bowen Fieldhouse.
