Northern Michigan University’s Crystal Walker competes in a long jump event at an outdoor meet in a past season. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The women’s track and field team at Northern Michigan University begins its indoor season today at the two-day Early Bird Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the Badger State city.

With the multi-event pentathlon kicking things off, today’s action begins at 3:30 p.m. EST, with most of the meet held Saturday commencing at 2 p.m. EST.

This is the Wildcats’ only meet until late January, the next meet being the Karl Schlender Invitational at Wisconsin-Whitewater on Jan. 24.

A home meet in the Superior Dome is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, when it’s NMU’s turn to host the WCW Tri-Meet that annually includes Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State.

The Wildcats are coming off a fourth-place finish at last year’s indoor championships in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and a program-best runner-up spot at the conference outdoor finals.

Under 12th-year head coach Jenny Ryan, this NMU team has a roster of 51 women, including two fifth-year seniors, 10 “regular” seniors, 11 juniors, 16 sophomores and 12 freshmen.

Fans can follow @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X for updates leading up to and during events this weekend, or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s track and field schedule for links to live video, a preview and history.

Last season at the GLIAC indoor meet, current fifth-year senior Crystal Walker and now-sophomore Alayna Vandegriff each reached the podium among 10 total podium finishes for the Wildcats.

Now-graduated Ellyse Wolfrath was named All-Region after finishing 13th among 18 runners in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships. She set a school record with 8.46 seconds in that event and was conference champion.

Ryan started coaching at NMU as head coach of the cross country team in the 2007-08, several years later adding track to her positions.

With the track teams, she’s had 11 qualifiers for the NCAA nationals, including Wolfrath and Walker in the 100 dash last year.

And her teams have had excelled in the classroom, too, with the Wildcats named an All-Academic Team by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association every one of her years. Requirements have been a team cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.00 while also posting a score at its NCAA regional meet.

Last spring, Ryan and her staff were named GLIAC Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year.

Her assistant coaches include Michael Dellemann, now in his first season as associate head coach after being on the staff since 2018, Luke Pease and Terri Todd. Sarah Pease and Leonard Pizziola will be student assistants this season, too.

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