On Friday, Saginaw Valley’s men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted their second straight home meet at the Doug Hansen Open.
For the ladies, Sydney Kreger led the way in the one mile run with a ninth-place finish, followed up with Dominique Adams, who had a time of 5:34.
The ladies had solid finishes in the 60-meter dash, with Lauren Huebner finishing third and Ce’Aira Richardson pulling in fifth place. Richardson had another outstanding performance this weekend in the 400-meter run with a second-place finish at 56.40 seconds. This time provisionally qualified Richardson for nationals.
Morgan Fuerst led the way for the Cardinals in the 800-meter run with a sixth-place finish and a time of 2:22. Richardson led the way in the 200-meter dash with a third-place finish as well. In long distance, Alicia Tomlin finished eighth with a time of 10:52 in the 3000-meter run.
In field events, Sam Warren finished sixth in long jump with a distance of 5.63 meters in the finals. Veteran high jumper Anna Fochesato leaped into fourth place with a final jump of 1.53 meters. Fochesato also excelled in the triple jump with a runner-up placing and a 11.31-meter jump.
Richardson’s success the past two weekends has not gone unnoticed. After last week’s impressive 400-meter performance, she was selected as the GLIAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week. Ironically, Richardson did not even hear of her accomplishment until three days after it was announced, but she felt extremely honored to be chosen.
“That’s something that people don’t get the opportunity to get every season, so I was very honored,” Richardson said.
Regarding this week’s meet, Richardson felt confident in herself and her team.
“I thought we did very well as a team, we came out and cheered each other on,” she said. “Most importantly, we came out and competed.”
Head coach Rod Cowan was not surprised of Richardson’s success due to her work ethic and natural ability.
“She’s a product of a little bit better training and a little more intensity and focus,” Cowan said, crediting his sprinting coach, Dennis Martin.
The men’s side picked up steam as well, with Tom Goforth, Joey Southgate, and Eddie Komph taking first through third place in the one-mile run. In the 60-meter hurdles, Sam Black took ninth place. The Cardinals put up a good showing in the 400-meter dash as well. Dalton Hollandsworth led the way, bringing home fifth, while Carter Eckhardt finished in seventh place with a time of 50.21 seconds. Travon Phillips sprinted into sixth place in the 60-meter dash with fellow teammate Jullane Walker hauling in fifth place.
Middle-distance runner Andrew Plude led SVSU men in the 800-meter run with 13th place, crossing the line in 2:02. Plude, a freshman, had positive things to say about this weekend.
“It’s a good start to the season,” he said. “I still have room to improve.”
He also has high hopes for his fellow middle-distance squad.
“I see us performing [and progressing] well in GLIAC’s,” Plude said.
For the remaining events, Juan Bowers and Travon Phillips took home second and third place in the 200-meter dash. Meanwhile, Clyde Anderson finished in seventh place in the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:35. SVSU’s 4×400-meter team landed in second place as well.
In the field, Ben Morrow threw 15.38 meters in the weight throw to take eighth place and threw 14.68 meters in shot put, good enough for sixth place.
Ryan Kelly provisionally qualified for nationals in shot put with a final throw of 15.77 meters and a second-place toss. Brady Watson jumped a height of 1.88 meters in high jump with, Sam Black jumping 6.14 meters in the long jump. Lastly, Noah VanderVeen finished in fourth in the triple jump with 12.8 meters.
Cowan felt good about his team’s performance, even without running at full capacity.
“We wanted to pick some spots where we wanted to work on some things, and for the most part, the kids did perform well,” he said.
SVSU is participating in the Jet’s Pizza Invite next weekend followed up by the SVSU vs. Northwood dual meet on Feb. 4.
