The Northern Michigan University women’s team begins its outdoor season this weekend, taking part in the Redbird Challenge hosted by Illinois State today and Saturday.

The hammer throw is the lone event taking place today, with three NMU athletes competing. The bulk of the action happens Saturday.

While the U.P. deals with ice and snow, the forecast calls temperatures in the upper 70s and wind today, with upper 60s and cloudy conditions Saturday in Normal, Illinois, with a chance of rain throughout.

Fans can follow @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during events, while a visit to the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com nad looking under the women’s track and field schedule will yield links to live results, a meet preview and Wildcats’ history at the meet.

This Northern Michigan University quartet of women’s runners set a school record in the 4-by-200-meter relay at the season-opening Karl Schlender Invitational in women’s indoor track and field held in Whitewater, Wisconsin, in January. From left, Ellyse Wolfrath, Ciara Ostrenga, Ahna Larson and Kanya Campbell clocked 1:44.64. (Photo courtesy NMU)

“These first couple meets we have a good chance to see where we are at from the indoor season to the outdoor,” Northern head coach Jenny Ryan said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the meet. “A few of the events change along with some new events and it will be exciting to race outdoors.”

A year ago for the outdoor season, the Wildcats finished fourth as a team out of 10 at Outdoor GLIAC Championships, accumulating 90 points to in fourth for the second straight year. Grand Valley won with 245.5 points while Saginaw Valley State was runner-up and and Wayne State third.

Five Wildcats earned top-three podium finishes. Crystal Walker was second in the 100-meter hurdles and third in the long jump, Teiolla Harvey finished third in the javelin, Ellyse Wolfrath was third in the 100 hurdles and Emily Czeiszperger earned her first career podium finish at the GLIACs with third in the pole vault.

With two top-five finishes in sprints, Marquette Senior High School graduate Baux Truckey was also named the Freshman Track Athlete of the Meet.

Walker advanced in the 100 hurdles to the NCAA Championships, where she finished her season in 15th place against the best competition in the country.

Northern Michigan University’s Ellyse Wolfrath, center, clears a hurdle during an indoor meet held at Saginaw Valley State in University Center during the 2024-25 season. (Photo courtesy NMU)

During this season’s indoor campaign, NMU opened by finishing in second place at the Karl Schlender Invitational in Whitewater, Wisconsin, in January, highlighted by the relay of Ellyse Wolfrath, Ciara Ostrenga, Ahna Larson and Kanya Campbell setting a Northern record of 1 minute, 44.64 seconds in the 4-by-200 relay.

Similarly, the quartet of Lamar Gordon, Ostrenga, Beverly Harper and Gianna Hoving picked up the Wildcats’ lone win in the distance medley relay at the Jet’s Pizza Invite at University Center in 12:12.30.

Then on Feb. 8, NMU won the fifth annual W-C-W Meet that included SVSU and Wayne State, becoming the first team to win this triangular meet multiple times.

Northern’s seven winners were Wolfrath in the 60 hurdles, Harper in the 800, Hoving in the mile, Kati Smith in the pole vault, Walker in the long jump, Teiolla Harvey in the weight throw and Alayna Vandegriff in the triple jump.

A small group from Northern went to the Maverick Premier #2 meet on Feb. 15, highlighted by Larson winning the 400.

To round out the indoor regular season, the Wildcats picked up five wins at the Parkside Classic in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Feb. 22 — Wolfrath in the 55 hurdles, Larson in the 200, Hoving in the mile, Rebecca Lane in a tiebreaker over teammate Smith in the pole vault, and Vandegriff in the triple jump.

At the GLIAC indoor meet at University Center, on the first day Wolfrath set a Northern record in the 60 hurdles of 8.46 seconds, breaking her own record. And that was just in the event’s preliminaries.

By the end of day two, NMU finished in fourth place among nine teams. Their podium finishes that day included Wolfrath winning in the finals of the 60 hurdles in 8.53 seconds and Walker coming in third in 8.74, while Vandegriff was third in the triple jump in 11.27 meters (36 feet, 11 3/4 inches).

Wolfrath, a senior, was NMU’s lone representative at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Indianapolis on March 14, finishing 13th in the 60 hurdles in 8.49 seconds, her second-best career time. She missed the eight-runner finals by 0.05 of a second, while a year earlier, she would have made the eight-runner finals by 0.09 of a second with her 2025 time.

Wolfrath also earned All-Region honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on March 12.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing the meets and previewing the upcoming meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.