ALLENDALE, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's indoor track and field squad totaled 17 points on the opening day of the 2022 GLIAC Championships being held at GVSU. The 17 points on day one is the second-most in the 10-year history of the program, trailing the 22 garnered in 2015, while the fifth-place ranking is tied for the best with the 2015 team.
TEAM SCORES
Grand Valley State leads with 58 points, while Saginaw Valley State is second with 49 points. Davenport tallied 31 points and is followed by Northern Michigan with 19 points and
WSU with 17 points. Trailing the Warriors are Northwood (9), Parkside (7), Ferris State (4) and Lake Superior State (1).
5000M Run
Freshman
Reagan Justice (Canton, Mich. / Salem) earned five points with a fourth-place finish in a personal-best time of 17:27.99, more than 10 seconds than her previous best. The time was also the fifth-best in program history and less than seconds off a provisional mark.
Senior
Ashley Defrain (Fort Gratiot, Mich. / Port Huron Northern) posted a ninth-place time of 18:31.37, while freshman
Mattie Drennan (Clarkston, Mich.) was 10th by clocking in at 18:37.89.
Distance Medley Relay
The DMR quartet of junior
Katherine Ray (Novi, Mich.), sophomore
Abigail Dunn (Northville, Mich.), freshman
Emily Gordon (Northville, Mich.) and junior
Thailyia Christensen (Flushing, Mich.) placed fourth in a time of 12:16.51 to earn five points. Their time was the fourth-fastest in school history.
Weight Throw
Junior
MaKayla Rawls (Detroit, Mich. / Birmingham Seaholm) earned a sixth-place finish with throw of 16.55m, which ranks sixth all-time at WSU. She earned three points with her best toss, which came on her fourth attempt.
Senior
Kaleigh Flowers (Grand Rapids, Mich. / East Kentwood) finished 10th (14.23m), while classmate
Izzy Taylor (Three Rivers, Mich.) was 11th (14.14m).
Long Jump
Junior
Mikayla Williams (St. Charles, Mich.) placed fifth at 5.31m to earn four points.
Junior
Morgan Witzgall (Auburn, Mich. / Bay City Western) finished 11th (4.74m).
PRELIMS
60M Hurdles
Senior
Aliyah McDonald (Kingston, Jamaica) recorded a season-best time of 8.87 to earn the top seed for Sunday's finals.
Freshman
Parys Smith (Keego Harbor, Mich. / West Bloomfield) finished 11th with a personal-best time of 9.43, while sophomore
Macie Ries (Mason, Mich.) was 15th (10.15).
400M Dash
Freshman
Makenzie Wellner (Menominee, Mich.) qualified for the finals after notching the sixth-fastest time in school history to finish fifth in the prelims at 59.49, while classmate
Renae Kutcha (Jackson, Mich. / Lumen Christi) also advanced to the finals after placing eighth in a time of 59.76.
Senior
Yasmine Affes (Northville, Mich.) finished ninth in a time of 59.89.
60M Dash
Junior
Makayla Sumrall (Roseville, Mich.), who has posted the seventh-fastest time in the nation in this event, won the prelims in a time of 7.60. McDonald also qualified for the finals after a third-place prelim time of 7.83.
200M Dash
McDonald will be competing in her third final after finishing fifth in the prelims with a time of 25.371, just ahead of Sumrall's 25.377. Both times were personal-bests, and were the third and fourth fastest times in school history and best marks since 2016.
UP NEXT
In addition to the seven aforementioned Warriors who advanced to Sunday's finals, WSU will have three runners each in the mile, 800m run, 3000m run as well as participation in the 4x400m relay.
In terms of field events, there will be Wayne State participants in the high jump, three in the shot put and two in the triple jump.
