That’s what the women’s track and field team at Northern Michigan University must’ve been thinking as the Wildcats began their outdoor season at two meets less than 50 miles apart in central Illinois last weekend.

While most of the team was at the Joyce Morton-Kief Invitational in Normal, some of the weight- and throwing-event field athletes attended the Big Blue Outdoor Opener a bit south in Decatur.

Between the meets, NMU picked up four event victories and 19 top-five finishes, two event wins coming at each meet.

At the Morton-Kief meet at Illinois State, Northern finished fourth among 11 teams with 93 points. The big-school host Redbirds won with 128, while another NCAA Division I program, Northern Illinois, was runner-up with 106. Team scores weren’t kept at the Big Blue meet.

This quartet from Northern Michigan University swept the top four spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Joyce Morton-Kief Invitational college women’s track and field meet held in Normal, Illinois, on Friday and Saturday. From left are Wildcats third-place finisher Anya VanSweden, runner-up Celia Wallace, race winner Dani Van Lente and, partially hidden, fourth-place Paige Anderson. (Photo courtesy NMU)

The Wildcats are back in action for meets every weekend in April, and will even sneak in the start of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships before that month ends and first weekend of May comes along.

This weekend, NMU will be at the Ashton May Invite hosted by Wisconsin-La Crosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Friday.

Here are details from the Illinois meets:

Morton-Kief

On Friday and Saturday at Normal, you could say the Wildcats “went the distance” with its victories, winning running events that measure in the thousands of meters.

Senior Dani Van Lente led an NMU first-through-fourth-place sweep of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the event that includes occasional hurdles and pools of water waiting beyond some of them.

Van Lente clocked 11 minutes, 33.57 seconds, with sophomore teammate Celia Wallace close behind in 11:41.21, sophomore Anya VanSweden third in 11:55.11 and senior Paige Anderson fourth in 12:14.58.

Northern senior Madi Szymanski, a Wildcats’ star during the fall cross country season, won the 5,000 run in 17:20.65 as NMU also swept the podium, senior teammate Sophia Potter runner-up in 17:32.68 and Northern freshman Ashley Choponis third in 18:11.14. In addition, their sophomore teammate Madalyn Agren was fifth in 18:56.87.

Wildcats sophomore Lamar Gordon ran a personal-best 4:36.78 to finish third in the 1,500, while sophomore teammate Ella DeBruyn also had a personal best of 4:43.24 to come in eighth.

Senior Teiolla Harvey, who also participated at the weekend’s other meet, was third here in the hammer throw with a heave of 49.45 meters (162 feet, 2 7/8 inches), while another double-meet participant, Manistique High School product and NMU sophomore Danielle Lund, was fourth with 48.96 meters (160-7 5/8).

Freshman Maya Woods was fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:06.91, while in the 800, Beverly Harper was fifth in 2:17.54, Ishpeming graduate and NMU sophomore Lola Korpi seventh in 2:20.56, and junior teammate Lana Mac eighth in 2:20.78.

In the 100 hurdles, NMU freshman Lily Phillips was sixth in 15.21 seconds, junior Eva Zonca seventh in 15.24 and junior Natasha Nowakowski 10th in 15.99.

And freshman Tashay Faulkner was eighth in the 100 in 12.42 seconds.

In other field events, Nowakowski was ninth in the javelin with 31.62 meters (103-8 7/8), while sophomore Alayna Vandegriff was 10th in the triple jump with a leap of 11.08 meters (36-4 1/4).

In the pole vault, junior Kaitlin Smith was ninth after clearing 3.43 meters (11-3) and freshman Alyssa Tumminaro 10th at the same height, their places determined on tiebreakers.

Big Blue

On Saturday in Decatur, Lund led the Wildcats with a pair of victories, taking the discus with a toss of 42.03 meters (137-10 3/4) and hammer throw with a fling of 52.41 meters (171-11 3/8).

Junior Caterina Thelen was third in the discus with 38.99 meters (127-11) and ninth in the hammer, though a distance was not given in the latter.

Lund was also second in the shot put with a heave of 12.53 meters (41-1 3/8), while senior Alizabeth Little was third with 11.96 meters (39-2 7/8). Little was also 10th in both the hammer and discus.

In the javelin, Harvey was runner-up with a toss of 38.13 meters (125-1 1/4) and sixth in the hammer with 42.06 meters (138-0).

Story contents based on a

Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the meets. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.