The Eastern Michigan Eagles women’s track and field team earned first place at the 2020 MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships at Stile Athletics Field House in Akron. The EMU men’s track and field team finished in second place at the same event. The two teams combined to win seven events including both 60-meter hurdle races.
In the women’s 60-meter dash final, Alyson Davis took home first place for the Eagles with a time of 7.50. Brittni Mason was just behind, finishing with a time of 7.52. The Eagles got their third top-five finish of the event as Hanna Hearn took home fifth place as she came in at 7.60. Eastern Michigan’s dominance continued in the 60-meter hurdles final.
Alysse Wade won the event as she clocked in at 8.43. The next closest EMU athlete to was Brenna Cavanaugh, who earned fifth place with a time of 8.69. Angel Gazaway was just behind her, coming in at 8.70 which was good enough for sixth place. Quintella Johnson also earned first place for the Eagles in the high jump with a distance of 1.74 meters.Davis also earned one of the four awards that was announced. She won the women’s MAC Freshman Track Performer of the Year. The other three awards that were announced went to Connie Teaberry (Coach of the Year, Northern Illinois), Ashley Tutt (MVP, Northern Illinois) and Lillie Franks (Freshman Field Performer of the Year, Kent State).
EMU finished in first place with 104 points, while Northern Illinois was the only other team in striking distance with 102 points. The rest of the standings were Ball State (77), Akron (72), Bowling Green (68), Toledo (60.5), Miami (60), Central Michigan (34), Buffalo (24), Ohio (14) and Western Michigan (14).
In the men’s event, the Eagles won four separate events. The first was in the 60-meter hurdles final. Devonte Findlay won the event for the Eagles with a time of 7.89 seconds. EMU also had one other top-10 finisher as Payne Wylie earned eighth place at 8.42 seconds.
Owen Day was also one of the top performers at the championships as he won the 800-meter race and the one-mile run. Day finished in first place in the 800-meter race with a time of 1:51.38. EMU had two other top-10 finishers in Derek Jones (1:52.55) and Roderic Wilson (1:56.64). Day also went on to win the mile run with a time of 4:06.86.
Baldvin Magnusson and Wilho Hautala finishes in fifth and sixth place, respectively in the mile race. Magnusson had a time of 4:10.10, while Hautala clocked in at 4:12.94. Magnusson’s day concluded with a victory in the 3,000-meter run as he finished at 8:18.44. Hautala finished in fourth place in the same event with a time of 8:24.84.
Despite the four victories, the Eagles finished in second place with a total of 142 points. Akron ran away with the event with 165.50 points. Kent State (106), Buffalo (77.50) and Central Michigan (34) rounded out the top-five. Akron also dominated the awards as Dennis Mitchell and Demetrius Jackson won Coach of the Year and MVP, respectively.
