Eastern Michigan University’s women’s track and field team competed in the EMU Quadrangular meet against Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University and the University at Buffalo on Feb. 1.
The Eagles came away with a victory over all three schools that they will face in the 2014 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Green and White scored 145 points while Western came in with 123, Central 114.5 and Buffalo 112.5.
The Eagles were victorious five times in the meet with four of those victories coming on the track.
Aaliyah McKinney, the MAC current leader in the 60-meter dash, took the event in 7.62 seconds. She narrowly missed out on a second victory in the 200m, being beat out by a mere .02 seconds by WMU’s Rebecca Hall. McKinney’s time was 24.92. The sophomore also anchored the 4×400 relay team in the meet’s finale.
Trailing WMU’s and CMU’s A-teams in the final two laps, McKinney managed to overcome the Chippewas’ anchor in the last 100 meters of the race to take a second-place finish. The other members of the relay team were sophomore Morgan Yeadon, sophomore Iesha Hardiman and junior Danielle Clark. The team finished in 3:46.59, just behind the Broncos’ time of 3:46.14.
Victoria Voronko and Sarah Chauchard won the remaining four events for the Eagles.
Both athletes were named MAC Indoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week last week.
Voronko took both the mile and the 3000m run, winning both by a large margin and setting a personal-best in the mile. Voronko’s time of 4:45.62 was over 10 seconds faster than her nearest competitor. In the 3000m, Voronko stayed at pace with CMU’s Breanne Lesnar for over two kilometers before she pulled ahead to take a nearly 10-second victory over the Chippewa competitor.
Chauchard won both the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump. Her time of 8.77 seconds was better than her previous mark of 8.78 set in the EMU Triangular meet on Jan. 10.
Fellow Eagle Pauline Chiariglione also set a personal-best, with a time of 8.96 seconds.
In the field events, sophomore Ellie Braidic brought home second in the pole vault. She earned a 2014 MAC Championship spot by clearing 12 feet 7.50 inches.
The Eagles also saw solid performances from sophomore Makeda DeBardelaben in both the long jump and triple jump. DeBardelaben’s leap of 38 feet 2.75 inches earned her a third place finish in the triple jump. She would also have placed third in the long jump but this event was an exhibition only.
The duo of Chauchard and Chiariglione competed in the shot put. Both Eagles finished in the top-10.
In the weight throw, Adrienne Waisner earned the top spot for EMU with a distance of 48 feet 4.50 inches and an eighth place finish.
“We just wanted to focus on competing well against the conference teams and having a solid performance across the board to win the meet,” EMU head coach Sue Parks said on emueagles.com. “We got some people into the mix today that haven’t been healthy, so it was good to get them back out there. Now we just need these next few weeks- they’re huge meets for us- and we need to continue to improve our marks and hopefully set ourselves up for the MAC.”
The Eagles will compete next in their first multi-day competition of the 2013-14 season. They will take part in the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, IN on Feb. 7-8.
