Northern Michigan University track athlete Beverly Harper, right, rounds the bend during an indoor race held at a meet at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The women’s track and field team at Northern Michigan University continues the indoor season in the Lower Peninsula today and Saturday with its second of six consecutive weekends of meets.

The Wildcats will be at the Jet’s Pizza Invitational hosted by Saginaw Valley State at its campus in University Center between Saginaw and Bay City.

The multi-event pentathlon opens business at 11 a.m. today, with field events starting at 3 p.m. and track events at 5 p.m.

Saturday begins with field events at 11 a.m. and track races at 1 p.m.

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

Last Saturday, the Wildcats picked up eight victories, including two in relays, at the Karl Schlender Invite at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. They had nine podium finishers and another nine finish in the top five.

“It was a great start to the season,” Northern head coach Jenny Ryan said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend. “We had some good performances all-around in a variety of events. This competition gave us a chance to get the early-season cobwebs off and help us see where we’re at.

“Overall, I was really impressed with the distance runners, sprinters, hurdlers and really everyone across the board for having such good first performances. We saw where we are and what we need to work on, and we’ll just continue to improve throughout the season.”

Crystal Walker doubled up in individual events at Whitewater, winning the 60-meter hurdles and long jump, while Beverly Harper won the 600 run and ran a leg on NMU’s victorious 4-by-400 relay, joining Ishpeming product Lola Korpi, Marquette graduate Maija Maki-Warne and Paige Anderson.

Teammate Lana Mac took the 800 title and Lamar Gordon the mile, while the quartet of Negaunee product Macyn DellAngelo, Marquette grad Baux Truckey, Lily Phillips and Kanya Campbell won the 4-by-200.

At last year’s Jets Pizza Invite, NMU collected a victory, runner-up finish and four third places. The distance medley relay team won their event, with Alayna Vandegriff taking second in the triple jump, and Walker coming in third in both the 60 hurdles and long jump. Northern added thirds in the shot put and pole vault, 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.