(Fort Wayne, IN) - The women's track and field team concluded their indoor season at the WHAC Championships, hosted by Indiana Tech on Friday, February 15, and Saturday, February 16. The women returned with an eighth-place finish after picking up six points. They finished two points behind Cleary and two points ahead of Defiance. The women earned six new personal records and broke two school records.
Jayde Ullenbruch (Sophomore; Port Huron, MI) started the team strong on Friday by breaking two school records. Ullenbruch already previously owned both records. Ullenbruch broke the 60 Hurdles record by a healthy margin for the second time within a week. While the record time of 9.34 was run in prelims, she followed up with a 9.62 in finals. The time was good enough for eighth, which earned the team a point. Ullenbruch followed that prelim performance with a new personal record in the 60 dash. She crossed the finish line with a time of 8.17 seconds. She finished her day one off with a school record in Long Jump with a distance of 5.08 meters.
Chloe Gunter (Senior; Monroe, MI), Grace Finley (Sophomore; Monroe, MI), Michaela Kurth (Sophomore; Ypsilanti, MI), and Rachael Byers (Sophomore; Plymouth, MI) comprised the 4x800 relay team earned two points with a seventh-place finish by a final time of 11:14.
In field events, Maya Freeman (Sophomore; Fort Gratiot,MI) led the team in shot put with a throw of 10.72 meters. Quinn Stefanski (Senior; Saginaw, MI) finished with a throw of 10.22 meters. Stefanski led the way in weight throw with a distance of 14.23 meters for an eighth-place finish, earning the team a point. Jenkins finished in 20 with a best throw of 12.14 meters.
Alison Doerr (Junior; Grand Haven, MI) finished up Friday with running the 5k. Doerr finished in a final time of 23:18.07.
On Saturday, Kurth and Finely competed in the mile. Kurth finished in 16 place with a season-best time of 5:59, while Finley finished in 20 with a time of 6:13.
In 800, Kurth again led the way by finishing in eighth place with 2:44, a season-best time. Finley followed her with a record time of 2:54, and Merin Merkle (Sophomore; Monroe, MI) was just four-thousandths of a second behind Finley. Jenna Oberly (Sophomore; Dearborn, MI) competed in the 800 and finished at 3:12.
Emma Puwal (Freshman, Utica, MI) competed in the 400 and 200. Puwal ran times of 1:06 and 28.47.
Macee Ripke (Sophomore; Napoleon, OH), Byers, and Amanda Fogo (Junior; Fowlerville, MI) competed in the 3k. Ripke ran to a new personal record of 11:49 and finished in 13th place. Byers also saw improvement and a new personal best time of 12:24. Fogo ran close to her best, finishing in 12:39.
The meet concluded with the 4x400 relay team of Puwal, Kurth, Finley, and Merkle. The women ran to an eighth-place finish, earning the final point of the meet. They finished with a final time of 4:42.
Jenkins claimed the WHAC Champions of Character Award.
The team will take some needed off and downtime to recover from indoor. They will begin their outdoor season at Indiana Wesleyan on Friday, March 21.
