Despite being made up of mostly underclassmen, the Eastern Michigan University men’s track and field team showed signs of growth this past outdoor season.
“We were a relatively young team and saw development throughout the year whether it was during cross-country, indoor or outdoor seasons,” coach John Goodridge said.
The 4×100-meter relay quartet of senior Jay Saunders, junior Chris Scott, sophomore Cameron Bolton and freshman Matthew Williams put together some of the team’s best performances of the season.
At the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Mich., Saunders, Scott, Bolton and Williams touched the line first in a time of 42.28 seconds.
The quartet continued to ride its momentum throughout the year with a second place finish at the Toledo Invitational and at the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships in Akron, Ohio, and finished in 40.47 to claim first.
Their season of success came to a screeching halt at the National Collegiate Athletic Association East Regional in Greensboro, N.C., where a failure to hand the baton led to a DNF (Did Not Finish).
“Our relay team [Saunders, Scott, Bolton and Williams] ran consistent throughout the season all the way up to the MAC Championship,” Goodridge said. “But a drop of the baton knocked us out, but who knows why it happened. It could have been the level of competition at the MAC meet, where the weather was not good, but we were curious to see by running on a good track against that level of competition whether or not the time would drop.”
Other Notable Season Highlights:
At the Toledo Collegiate Challenge in Toledo, Ohio, redshirt junior Nick Petro captured first in the 1,500-meter steeplechase with a time of 6:10.46.
At the Spartan Invitational, the 4×400-meter relay team of Scott, sophomore Darrell Butler and freshmen Tyler Ross and Jeff Elam crossed the line first in 3:21.10.
Junior Max Babits also took home a victory in the pole vault with a leap of 5.18 meters (17-feet 0-inches), while sophomore Solomon Ijah placed first in the javelin throw with a toss of 52.02 meters (173-feet 11-inches).
At the Hillsdale-Gina Relays, Ijah took home first in the decathlon with 6,967 points.
At the Lyle Bennett Open, EMU brought home nine victories, most notably Saunders’ three first-place finishes — the 100 and 200-meter dash and the 4×100 relay.
Babits and freshmen Jason Ervin and Zach Waldron took home first place finishes at the Toledo Invitational.
At the MAC Outdoor Championships, redshirt freshman Daryl Smith ran through the competition to capture first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal best of 9:02.86.
Overall, EMU finished third with a total of 142.50 points.
Bolton, Saunders, Scott, Smith and Williams were named to the All-MAC first team, while junior Grzegorz Kalinowski, Babits and Ejigu were named to the second team.
The Lasting Legacy Of The EMU Seniors:
With seniors Saunders, Terefe Ejigu, James Hughes and Joe Tesner moving on, Goodridge discussed the impact they made as a class.
“The seniors we are losing have been wonderful Eastern men and have made fine contributions throughout their career and will be difficult to replace,” Goodridge said. “We do have a very good nucleus coming back for next year and we look forward to the experience and maturity blossoming.”
Notable Redshirts:
Junior Donald Scott, who was the indoor MAC champion in the triple jump has been redshirted along with sophomore hammer thrower Keith Williams.
Injuries and Final Analysis:
Josh George, who was the defending MAC champion in the 800-meter run came down with mono and Harry Dixon, who was the MAC runner-up in the 10,000-meter run suffered a knee injury.
“We were not at full strength — some by our own decisions and injuries, but are not excuses at all,” Goodridge said. “As a coaching staff, we were very pleased with the competitive efforts we got from everyone throughout the season. From a program standpoint, to have won two out of three MAC championships — placing third in the outdoors and first in cross country and indoors, we were happy with the end of the results of the season.”
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Follow Eugene Evans on Twitter: @EasternEchoGeno.
