Wildcat Women Successful At Jet’s Pizza Invitational
Courtesy: Northern Michigan University Athletics
SAGINAW, Mich. — The Northern Michigan University track and field team opened their 2021 indoor season at the Jet’s Pizza Invitational, hosted by Saginaw Valley State University, Jan. 29-30.
The women accounted for 14 finishes in the top-three over the two-day event, including four gold medal performances from Elise Longley (mile), Ninti Little (long jump), Selena Johnson (triple jump) and the women’s distance medley relay.
The meet started off with the 60m finals where Little claimed second in 8.07 seconds, followed close behind by teammate Lauren Alarie in 8.09 seconds to finish third overall.
Longley then claimed the first top-finish of the weekend for the women, taking first in the mile race with a time of 5:27.27.
Continuing to go the distance, Madison Malon took third in the 3,000m, crossing the finish in 10:57.63.
In the relay races, the women’s 4x400m relay team finished second overall as Molly Kitson, Avery Stadt, Raegan Laiunger and Debra Wallace combined for a time of 4:24.03.
The women’s distance medley relay teams swept the competition, taking first and second place. The A squad, consisting of Longley, Ithaca Bergholtz, Emily Sterling and Megan Langworthy were the top-finishing team, completing the race in 13:27.09. Their teammates were not far behind. Clinching second place in 13:31.58 was the relay team of Taylor Conner, Talon Prusi, Chrysanthe Patselas and Madison Malon.
The Wildcats also found much success off the track where Little and Johnson both took the top-spot in each of their respective races.
In the long jump, Little finished with a 5.19m final jump while Johnson hit a 5.13m best for second overall.
In the triple-jump it was Johnson taking gold, getting a best jump of 11.15m and first overall, followed by Dunja Drobac in second (10.68m).
At pole vault, two Wildcats took third, as Calli Rechsteiner and Mari McClure each leapt to a height of 3.12m.
The final event was the pentathlon in which Maddie Campbell tallied 2,814 points and third overall.
The women’s team is back in action next weekend at SVSU for a tri-meet between the home Cardinals and Wayne State University Warriors.