Dollar Bay grad sets persoanl record in 800 meters
St. LOUIS, Mo. – The Michigan Tech track & field squads completed the opening weekend of the outdoor campaign highlighted by an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time by John Paul Norland, enjoying a personal-best in the 800m, clocking 1:50.87 at the WashU Distance Carnival Friday. In total, the Huskies basked in seven personal-bests over the two-day Distance Carnival hosted at Francis Field, the site of the 1904 Olympics. The Black & Gold followed the two-day meet with 16 personal-bests and a facility record at the Billiken Invitational on Saturday.
Quotable – Head Coach Robert Young
The quality of the fields and the potential for warmer weather make the long travel down to these meets worth it. Every student-athlete in our program was able to get into a field that provided a competitive challenge. The hot and windy conditions for most of Friday unfortunately hindered some of those athletes’ times but overall we had a lot of really quality races on the weekend.
Cedar’s 10k was so well run. She had great discipline with her pacing early and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the outdoor season.
Sophia picked up where she left off last spring with a small lifetime best in the 5k. She’s been training so well lately that we think this is just the beginning of an excellent spring.
Both Grace Riddle and Derin Apul demonstrated that they are on track to develop into very strong racers. Both ran smart races, starting near the back of their fields when the overall pace was too hot and moving up throughout to give themselves a chance to win the section. Had it been cooler these certainly would’ve been PR times, but either way they were great racing efforts.
John Paul’s 800m was our race of the weekend. We had hoped to find a race to set up for a push to qualify for nationals later in the spring. We got that and more with his exceptionally well-executed race and PR to become MTU’s #2 all-time.
Tucker ran the best race he’s run in a long time. He positioned himself ideally throughout the heat, giving him a great chance to win. Unfortunately, he came up just shy in the last lap, but no doubt learned some key lessons he can use later this spring.
Our freshmen 800 duo continued to impress with both Grace and Brielle taking another step forward. They are developing so fast right now it’s exciting to think where we may be able to get to when it’s warmer.
Cal’s steeple win was a thing of beauty. He ran his own race, leading throughout with very consistent splits. We know that this discipline usually takes a few races until we see our best and are quite pleased with these initial efforts.
Quotable – Assistant Coach Luke Moore
Gavin Roberts had a great weekend. His 5k/1500m double was very impressive and showcased some great gains in fitness.
Sam Shaver had an excellent debut in the 1500m. She was patient throughout most of the race and managed to run a blazing 69-second last lap to completely break the field and take the win.
Broderick Stewart’s first outdoor 800m was a great success. He managed to PR and win his heat. It was awesome to see him run a successful race as he has moved up from the 400.
Overall our teams dealt with some non-ideal weather conditions but competed very well. We were up for the challenge of this large event and showed that we are ready to go as we head into the rest of the season.
WashU Distance Carnival – Thursday
The women of Michigan Tech sparked the opening weekend with three personal-best in the invite sections. Cedar Gordon lowered her time over 10,000m, clocking a 37:06.07. Claire Endres shaved nearly 30 seconds off her personal-best in the 3,000m steeplechase, running 11:27.02. Sophomore standout Sophia Rhien also reached a new personal record, running 17:17.07 in the nightcap for the Huskies on Thursday.
WashU Distance Carnival – Friday
Veterans John Paul Norland and Tucker Ringhand highlighted the second day of the WashU Distance Carnival. Norland’s personal-best of 1:50.87 placed him fourth in a heat that saw the winner clock an effort of 1:50.45. Ringhand concluded the night with a personal-best over 5,000m, challenging for the win before ultimately taking third in his heat, lowering his personal record by nearly five seconds with a 14:34.52 mark.
Billiken Invite – Saturday
Steeplechaser Callen Carrier and the freshman duo 800m women highlighted the Billiken Invite on Saturday as Carrier dominated the men’s 3,000m steeplechase in a solo effort for a new personal-best of 9:29.83 for his first sub 9:30 run, breaking the facility record as Grace Folkema (2:15.53) and Brielle Kero (2:17.97) claimed second and third in an 800m field of 23 runners.
Multiple Huskies doubled back from Friday’s races at the Billiken Invite with Ringhand and Donavan Mattson returned from the 5,000m running the metric mile. Lucas Seng led the Black & Gold in the 1,500m in his debut at the distance, dipping under 4 minutes with a time of 3:59.74. Ringhand was just shy of a sub four finish with his 4:00.92 with Mattson close behind lowering his personal record of 4:02.48.
Freshman Sam Shaver also made her 1,500m debut winning her heat in a time of 4:56.42 as Rhein led the Huskies running 4:54.46.
Danny Ezzo’s first race on the track since the GLIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in May of 2023, running 4:09.18 in the 1,500m.
Jesse Henderson cleared 13-11.25 (4.25m) in the pole vault on his second attempt to claim second overall.
Up Next
The Huskies will divide and conquer in two weeks, sending a squad to the Platteville Invitational on April 11th and 12th, with the rest of the team traveling downstate to the Chippewa Invitational on the 12th.
