The Eastern Michigan men’s track and field team had two meets between Feb. 22-29. The first was the Alex Wilson Invitational on Feb. 22, the second was the two-day MAC Indoor Championship beginning on Feb. 28. The men’s team had high finishes in both events, but all further events in the season have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Alex Wilson Invitational was the last meet in the indoor regular season schedule for the Eagles in the Loftus Sports Center. The Eagles finished first in high jump, second in long jump, and second in triple jump. Junior Skylar Lester scored first for the high jump, recording a mark of 2.00 meters.
Senior Carlos Sanchez Juan competed in the long jump, and he scored 7.02 meters, while Baboucar Sallah-Mohammed scored 15.41 for the triple jump. Eastern Michigan’s Dorian Hooker II and Trent Barron competed in the 400-meter dash, Hooker finishing seventh at 49.14 seconds while winning his heat, and Barron finishing twelfth at 49.77 seconds.
The Eagles then travelled to Akron, looking to earn their second MAC title in three years. In the first day of the Indoor MAC Championship, hosted in Stile Athletics Field House, Eastern Michigan finished in first place overall with one of the Eagles’ key performers being Sallah-Mohammad, who scored a personal best 7.58 in the long jump.
Redshirt Junior Devonte Findlay finished first in the 60-meters hurdles, clocking in at 7.90 seconds. The Eagles also had strong performances on the track, with the four Eagles competing scoring top-four or above in finishes, ending the first day with a first place lead and a score of 46.
Day two of the tournament saw the Eagles continue to have success, but Akron ended up taking the MAC championship. The Eagles finished with six individual titles, as well as four Eagles receiving All-MAC honors, those athletes being Sallah-Mohammad, Findlay, Owen Day, and Baldvin Magnusson.
Eastern Michigan was set to begin the outdoor portion of their schedule on Saturday, March 21, in the TCU Invitational in Fort Worth. EMU had a total of seven other regular season events that were all called off including Raleigh Relays, Jim Click Shootout (Tucson), Tennessee Relays, Gina Relays (Hillsdale), Jesse Owens Classic (Columbus), Billy Hayes Invitational (Bloomington), and Len Paddock Invitational (Ann Arbor).
After that, the Eagles would have competed in the MAC Outdoor Championships, which were set to start on Thursday, May 14, in Kalamazoo. It was a three-day event. Instead, Eastern Michigan athletes will have to wait until next season to compete as all winter and spring sports have been cancelled for the remainder of the year.
