The Wildcats finished in fifth place among 10 teams at the meet with 71 1/2 points. Grand Valley State was the runaway winner with 244, with Wayne State scoring 98 to edge the host Cardinals’ 97 for second place.

Wisconsin-Parkside was fourth with 75, just ahead of NMU, while Davenport came in sixth with 42 1/2, followed by Purdue Northwest with 18, Ferris State 13, Lake Superior State four and Roosevelt did not score.

Harper finished in third place in the 800-meter run on Sunday in 2 minutes, 13.46 seconds, also joining the third-place 4,000 distance medley relay on Saturday in 11:47.34, which also included Madi Szymanski, Marquette product Baux Truckey and Lamar Gordon. The distance medley relay missed first place by less than 2 1/2 seconds.

Also in third was Sunday’s 4-by-400 relay in 3:53.96 with Truckey, Lily Phillips, Lana Mac and Harper.

Northern Michigan University track athlete Beverly Harper runs during a past indoor meet at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Northern’s highest finish came Sunday in the triple jump, where Alayna Vandegriff was runner-up by leaping 11.32 meters (37 feet, 1 3/4 inches). She missed first place by just over a foot.

The Wildcats’ other third-place finish was turned in by Natasha Nowakowski in the five-event pentathlon after she accumulated 3,168 points on Saturday, which included winning the shot put with a distance of 10.48 meters (34-4 5/8) and finishing fifth in the long jump at 4.99 meters (16-4 1/2) and also fifth in the 800 in 2:37.37. She missed second place by just 14 points.

And teammate Eva Zonca was just two points behind Nowakowski in the pentathlon with 3,166 points as she placed third in the 60 hurdles in 9.36 seconds and third in the high jump by clearing 1.56 meters (5-1 3/8).

Other top-10 finishes for NMU included three runners in the mile, Szymanski finishing fourth in 4:54.28, Gordon sixth in 4:56.96 and Ella DeBruyn seventh in 4:57.04. All were personal bests.

Manistique graduate Danielle Lund was fourth in the shot put with a personal-best distance of 12.91 meters (42-4 1/4) on Sunday, following up her 10th-place finish in the weight throw of 14.46 meters (47-5 1/4) from Saturday.

Crystal Walker came in fourth in the long jump with a leap of 5.60 meters (18-4 1/2) on Saturday, then earned fifth in the 60 hurdles in 8.91 seconds on Sunday.

Kaitlin Smith was sixth in the pole vault on Sunday after clearing 3.14 meters (10-3 1/2), while teammate Alyssa Tumminaro was eighth with the same height and Vandegriff ninth with 2.99 meters (9-9 3/4).

In the 3,000, Szymanski was sixth in 10:00.79 and teammate Sophia Potter seventh in 10:06.16 on Sunday. Potter was also ninth in the 5,000 with a personal-best 17:24.13 on Saturday.

Teiolla Harvey paced the Wildcats in the weight throw with 16.54 meters (54-3 1/4).

Taylor Rogers came in ninth in the high jump after clearing 1.49 meters (4-10 1/2) on Sunday.

NMU moves on to the outdoor season, with the first two meets at Illinois State in Normal, Illinois, on March 27-28 and at the Ashton May Invitational in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on April 3.

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