Tech Men seventh; Women ninth
ALLENDALE, Mich. — The Michigan Tech track & field capped the first full day of competition at the GLIAC Championships with Tucker Ringhand taking the win in a tactical men’s 10,000m on Thursday evening in Allendale, Michigan.
The race was won for the Crosby, Minnesota, native in the final mile after the first five miles were run at a rather pedestrian race for the field as Ringhand ran an impressive last mile, taking a convincing lead in the final two laps.
This marks the first men’s 10,000m GLIAC Champion since Matt Pahl won the event in 2019.
Quotable – Head Coach Robert Young
We ran a bunch of excellent races today. The rapidly changing weather played a significant role in many races but overall we handled it well. We are pleased to get as many 800m and 1,500m runners through to the final as possible and look forward to those results tomorrow. Learning to race prelims is a key for all middle-distance runners and even those that didn’t make it through this time have gained some valuable experience for the years to come.
This year’s women’s steeple field was exceptionally deep so we knew Claire was going to have a challenge on her hands. She responded to this challenge very well and her technique over the hurdles and especially through the water really helped her separate and score when it wasn’t clear from the seeding that she’d be able to. It felt good to see her PR in such windy conditions and we may look to take another step at a last chance meet next week.
Cedar’s race was a very disciplined run to maximize her placement. We knew it would be very difficult to make the podium but felt if she ran well tactically 4th was there for the taking. She did very well to measure her effort early in the race so she could separate from her pack in the second half and grab that placement.
It always feels good to crown a conference champion especially so when it’s an athlete who is so passionate about the sport and has dealt with significant adversity. Tucker had two main goals for this spring and with this win, he has now accomplished both. This was such a tactical race with the pace being very mild considering the number of strong runners in the field. Tucker’s placement within the field throughout the race was near perfect. He covered all the necessary moves while using as little of his reserve as possible. When it came time to ratchet the pace down over the last few laps to chase the win we could just tell he had more left than anybody. He’s developed so much as an athlete and racer over his time as a Husky, I’m so glad he gets to have the title of GLIAC champion on his athletic resume forever.
Our racers who had finals went exceptionally well. As a team, we showed up ready to go and laid down some impressive performances. For the 10k and steeple crew, today has been the culmination of all of our hard work. I’m very proud of how it showed today.
Quotable – Assistant Coach Luke Moore
Tucker’s 10k win was an especially heartwarming end to his career. He struggled with injury last year and has now come back better than ever. I am very proud of him.
I was particularly impressed by our 10k women as well. They had to fight most of the race solo, and yet still performed exceptionally well. Ingrid ran a personal-best today which was all the more remarkable.
Our prelim athletes are looking forward to finals tomorrow and I hope we can all ride off of the momentum we gained today.
The Huskies also saw point scorers in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Claire Endres entered the meet with the ninth-best time in the field and put forth a seven second personal-record to take sixth overall for a time of 11:13.91.
The men’s 3,000m steeplechase also provided points for the Huskies as Callen Carrier finished just outside the podium with a fourth-place finish in 9:30.74, with freshman Finnian Stringer adding a point with his 9:58.44 good for eighth-place in his GLIAC Championship debut. Austin Smelker was close behind in ninth with a time of 10:00.84.
The Black & Gold began the day with the 1,500m squads, seeing both women and two men run their way into tomorrow’s final.
Freshman Sam Shaver earned her way to the final in her championship debut with a time of 4:50.91 as junior Ingrid Seagren secured the final spot in tomorrow’s final marking the second 1,500m final appearance of her career.
Lucas Seng earned a time qualifier in the first heat of the men’s 1,500m in his championship debut in the event with a new personal-best of 3:58.80 for fifth-place.
Connor Stefanovsky, also making his 1,500m championship debut, navigated a pedestrian second heat and rode the waves to an automatic qualifier using a 58.9 final lap to claim third in 4:06.01.
In a breezy first heat of the women’s 800m, Grace Folkema earned a spot in the final Friday, running 2:21.00 with Brielle Kero close behind in third with a time of 2:21.41 to take 10th in the event.
Despite the persistent wind, veteran John Paul Norland was able to take third in the second heat of the men’s 800m, with his effort of 1:56.08 also being the third-fastest time in the field to earn a spot in Friday’s final for the second-straight season.
Cedar Gordon placed fourth in the women’s 10,000m, improving five spots from a season ago with a time of 37:17. Ingrid Halverson finished just outside of scoring in a new personal-best time of 38:57.04 in a mainly solo effort.
Up Next
The Huskies conclude the Championship weekend tomorrow starting at 11:00 a.m.
