Eastern Michigan men’s track and field finished in second place with 153.5 points in the final day of the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships in Kent, Ohio.
The comeback attempt fell just 2.5 points short for the Eagles, as they looked to repeat as MAC Indoor Champions. The Akron Zips took home the championship with a total of 156 points, holding onto the slim lead that they ended day one with; this is the seventh indoor championship in program history for Akron.
Owen Day got the Eagles their first win of the final day in the one mile run with a time of 4:12.86, and fellow Eagle Melika Ghali finished in third place in the same event with a time of 4:13.69. Those two top three finishes gave the Eagles a combined 16 points in that event alone, as they looked to keep place with Akron.
Tyler Underwood continued his winning ways from day one with two individual title wins on the final day. Underwood finished in first place in the 200-meter race with a time of 21.18, and he had a career best time of 46.30 in the 400-meter run. For his efforts, Underwood was named the MVP of the MAC Indoor Championships.
While Ghali finished just short of Day in an earlier event, he would have his time to shine later in the last day of the mett. Ghali finished in first place in the 3,000-meter event with a time of 8:26.99. Austin Wicker also finished in third place of the same event with a time of 8:28.30.
The Eagles may have not won the MAC championship, but they did accomplish some history on the final day. Terrell Posada won the 60-meter event with a career best time of 6.78; this is the first time the Eagles have won the 60-meter event since 2011.
In the last event of the day, the Eagles defended their 4X400 meter relay title that they won last year with a total time of 3:11.95 from Owen Richardson, Underwood, Treston White and Charlie Young. However, it just wasn’t enough as Akron would soon celebrate with its new trophy.
As well as the Eagles performed on the last day of the competition, the day was about Akron winning the title. The Zips would win three individual events on the final day: the high jump, pole vault and triple jump. Those three wins helped to propel Akron to a victory, and it also helped that the Zips finished in the top three in multiple events that they did not finish in first place.
