Women Jump Four Spots to Sixth in the Nation | Men 24th
Findlay, OH – The Oilers track and field teams are coming off the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) meet and have just two weeks until the National Championship. In the ninth week of the USTFCCCA rankings, the men's and women's track and field team each find themselves in the top-25 national rankings. The women, who had five individual GLIAC champions this past weekend, jumped four spots to number six in the country, while the men moved up one spot to 24th. The GLIAC men and women combined to have nine teams ranked in the top-25, the most of any DII conference in the country.
Women
Findlay received a pair of automatic bids to the national championship meet from two of their throwers, junior Erica King and sophomore Alex DeVincentis.
King brought home the GLIAC title in the hammer throw with a toss of 200'1", the third-best throw in the country this season and an automatic bid to the national championship. Also in that event, junior Liz Streacker had the fifth-best throw in the nation with a distance of 192'11".
Another GLIAC title came from DeVincentis who won the discus with a toss of 166'11". That throw was also an automatic bid to the national championship meet and is the fourth-best in the nation this season. It also set a new Findlay record. DeVincentis still owns the sixth spot in the country in the shot put, a heave of 49'10.5" from the Wake Forest Open on March 18.
Senior Maud Sanmiquel is in a good position to earn a trip to the national championship meet as she ran the 400 hurdles in a time of 59.08, the third best in the country this year. That time earned her a GLIAC title in the event and also set a new UF record. Sanmiquel also had a top time in the 100 hurdles as she raced to a 13.77, good for 11th in the nation this year.
Senior Lydia Guagenti, who was named GLIAC Field Athlete of the Meet, won a pair of GLIAC titles over the weekend. Her first came in the heptathlon where she scored 5,135 points, a new UF record and the fifth-best point total in the country this season. She also took top honors in the high jump with the nation's third-best jump, a 5'8.75".
The Oilers' 4x100 relay team of Milani Glass, Maud Sanmiquel, Symphony Cooke, and Madison Stechshulte reached the 10th-best time in the country with a 46.01.
Men
After falling out of the top-25 four weeks ago, the men have been in rankings for the past four weeks.
Senior Michael Bruce is ranked third in the country in the triple jump from his performance at the Raleigh Relays on March 25. That jump measured 51'7.75". He is also ranked 12th in the nation in the long jump, a jump of 24'6.25" at the GLIAC Championship Meet.
Junior Trey Everett is another top-five performer this year as his high jump mark of 6'11", from the Border Battle in Hillsdale, MI, is still the fourth best in the country this season.
Junior Ben Hahler also had a great performance at the Border Battle, turning in a throw in the shot put that distanced 58'8.5", seventh in the country. He is now also 16th in the nation in the discus after a 171'3" at the GLIAC Championship meet.
Also earning a top spot after this past weekend's meet is freshman Austin Combs who is now 16th in the nation after a hammer throw of 194'0".
The teams will be at the Aquinas Twilight meet in Grand Rapids, MI today, the Hillsdale Classic on Thursday, May 12, the Grand Valley 2nd to Last Chance Meet on Friday, May 13, and the Laker Last Chance meet on Saturday, May 14. They then have a break until May 26 when they will head to Bradenton, Florida for the NCAA DII National Championship.