The Eastern Michigan women’s track and field team participated in the Simmons-Harvey Invitational in Ann Arbor on Saturday, January 14. The Eagles finished the day with strong performances in a number of events.
In the 60m prelims, freshman Brittni Mason turned in a strong performance, finishing third with a time of 7.74 sec, earning her a spot in the 60m finals. Mason went on to earn a second place finish in the 60m finals with time of 7.64 sec, a personal best. Junior Tifani Byrd also had a top ten finish in the 60m prelims with a time of 8.03 sec.
In the 200m dash, the Eagles had four top-ten finishes. The top two spots were held by Eagles, as junior Jasmine Jones took home the top spot with a time of 24.5 sec. and Brittni Mason took home the second place honors with a time of 25.59 sec. Junior Allyson Goff finished in fifth place with a time of 26.03 sec. and sophomore Emiesha Burrell finished in ninth place with a 26.77 sec. time. In the 400m dash, Jasmine Jones finished second overall with a time of 56.14 sec, freshman Micah Johnston finished in fourth place with a time of 58.22 sec, and senior Khadesha James finished in ninth place with a time of 59.38 sec.
In the 3000m run, Eastern Michigan had four runners finish in the top-ten, as sophomore Sydney Myers had a first place finish with a time of 9:48.44, junior Danielle Bentzley finished fourth overall with a time of 10:08.42, sophomore Allie Knoll finished sixth overall with a time of 10:10.95, and junior Lauren Pottschmidt finished seventh overall with a time of 10:27.93
Three Eagles had top-ten finishes in the 60m hurdles prelims, as Allyson Goff took home the top spot with a time of 8.62 sec. and Tifani Byrd finished second with a time of 8.76 sec, both earning spots in the 60m hurdles finals. Senior Dayna Hurd finished ninth with a time of 9.21 sec. In the 60m hurdles finals, Goff places first with a time of 8.50 sec, a personal best, and Byrd finished third with a time of 8.69 sec.In the 4x400m relay, a group of James, Hurd, Cizmas, Johnston finished second with a time of 3:54.69.
In the high jump, freshman Aleah Bailey finished in sixth place with a jump of 1.6m. In the long jump, Eastern Michigan had two top-ten finishers, as Allyson Goff finished third with a jump of 5.58m and Gianna Salzbrunn finished eighth with a jump of 5.39m. In the triple jump, junior Dace Dreimane finished in the top spot with a mark of 12.12m. At the weight throw, sophomore Morgan Turner put up a career best showing with a throw of 15.39m.
"We had some nice highlights, but also some areas where we were lacking sharpness. The sprinters and hurdlers had a good day, and we will look forward to adding Jessica Harris to the mix soon," said coach Sue Perkins. "We need improvement in some other areas in the coming weeks, but I feel good about where we are at as a team, and we'll be looking forward to getting better in all event areas with every weekend."
Overall, the Eagles had a strong showing at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, and look to build off their performance on Friday, January 20 at the GVSU Open in Allendale.
