Huskies Close GLIAC Championships Friday
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's and women's track and field teams completed day three at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships on Friday afternoon. The Tech men finished 8th overall with 26 points while the women wrapped up the three-day meet in 13th with 10 points. Grand Valley State University was this year's championship host.
Kyle Petermann highlighted day three for the Huskies with a second place finish in the Men's Discus Throw. Petermann's throw covered a distance of 52.83m which also generated eight points in the team standings for Michigan Tech. By virtue of his second place performance, Petermann earned 2nd Team All-GLIAC honors as a medalist in this this year's championship.
Petermann generated an NCAA Division II provisional qualifier status in the Discus at the GVSU Al Owens Invitational on April 21st with a toss of 52.22m. Hilding Beaudoin also competed in the Discus Throw Friday at the GLIAC Championships, finishing 20th in the final standings with a mark of 39.73m.
Keith Lemley and Jake Jurkowski both turned in solid efforts during the finals of the Men's Pole Vault. Lemley was sixth overall in the event thanks to a vault of 4.72m and Jurkowski was right behind him in seventh place overall by clearing the bar at 4.57m. Jurkowski also has NCAA Division II provisional status in the Pole Vault on the strength of a 4.76m mark at the Gina Relays hosted at Hillsdale on April 27th.
In the 400 Meter Hurdles, Shane McGrath was able to emerge from the preliminaries on Thursday to represent Tech in the finals on Friday. McGrath took home ninth place with a time of 57.09 seconds.
The team of Jacob Jarvis, Korson Mundinger, McGrath, and Chad Brown guided the Huskies to a ninth place finish in the 4x100 Meter Relay on Friday. Tech had a time of 43.70 seconds in the finals after crossing the line in 43.58 seconds during preliminaries on Thursday. McGrath joined Gage Armstrong, Justin Mentink and John Bailey for the 4x400 Meter Relays and the Huskies ended the event 10th in Friday's finals with a time of 3:26.05.
James Huey wrapped up the GLIAC Championships for the Tech men in the finals of Friday's Triple Jump. Huey was 14th in the standings with a leap of 12.63m.
The Michigan Tech women competed in four finals events on Friday in Allendale. Ashley Veale highlighted day three for the Huskies by placing fifth in the 400 Meter Hurdles. She logged a time of 1:03.37 and was less than three seconds in back of Madison Arnouts of Northwood who finished first.
Emily Byrd just missed a spot in the top ten of the 5,000 Meter Run on Friday. Byrd hit the line in 18:12.58 and checked in at No. 11 in the final standings, just over a second behind Brianna Coy of Walsh who was 10th. Lily Kraft also represented the Huskies in the 5,000 and crossed the line in 21:07.22 for 28th place.
Aimee Allen, Ashley Veale, Lauren Tetzloff, and Kassity Swanson teamed up for the 4x100 Meter Relays, punching their ticket to the finals on Friday with a time of 48.53 seconds in the preliminaries on Thursday. In Friday's finals, the Huskies claimed 8th placed by covering the distance in 48.76 seconds.
The 4x400 finals race also resulted in an 8th place finish for the Huskies. Allen, Tetzloff, Veale, and Jamie Dompier combined for a time of 3:59.31 and in the process picked up a point for Tech in team standings.
The men's and women's teams will each have opportunities to potentially qualify athletes for the NCAA Championships during the next couple of weeks at last chance meets. The NCAA Division II National Championships are scheduled for May 25-27 in Bradenton, Fla.
The official GLIAC Championship page with the official results, award winners, and photos can be viewed by clicking here.