Northern Michigan University’s Anya VanSweden makes a “dry” leap over a hurdle in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as some jumps put runners in a water hazard after their leap. This was at a past Wildcats’ outdoor track and field meet held at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The track and field team from Northern Michigan University hopes for better weather today at its third straight weekend of outdoor meets.

The Wildcats are in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the UW-Oshkosh Titan Invitational after picking up an event victory and a total of 14 top-five finishes at the cold and rainy Ashton May Invite held on the other side of the Badger State at Wisconsin-La Crosse. Team scores were not kept there.

While the Titan Invite started Friday, only some of the events in the heptathlon were scheduled, with the rest of that multi-event competition and all the rest of the track and field events set to begin today around noontime.

Northern fans can follow @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X for updates leading up to and during today’s events, or visit the Wildcats athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women’s track and field schedule for links to live video, live results and a preview.

At last season’s Titan Invite, NMU athletes won eight events, including current sophomore Anya VanSweden taking the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11 minutes, 36.94 seconds, winning by more than 40 seconds.

Northern runners also swept the top five spots in the 1,500 and won the 4-by-100 relay in 49.10 seconds.

Last week, the Wildcats overcame the rain and cold in La Crosse with senior Beverly Harper winning the 800 run in 2:15.73.

Manistique graduate and NMU sophomore Danielle Lund was runner-up in the hammer throw with a toss of 52.71 meters (172 feet, 11 1/4 inches), then took third in the discus with a throw of 40.49 meters (132-10).

“Despite the conditions, our throwers actually performed very well,” Northern head coach Jenny Ryan said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend’s meet. “Normally, the performances would go down a little bit, especially in throwing and sprinting, because of the risk of injury and pulling a muscle in that cold weather, but they were all competing so hard in suboptimal conditions for those short events.

“Overall, we had some really good results, and a couple of distance runners did really well in the 5K despite the rain and cold throughout the duration of the events.”

In that 5K (5,000 meters), senior Madi Szymanski was runner-up in 17:07.10, while senior teammate Sophia Potter was right after her in third in 17:12.23.

In addition, Wildcats sophomore Ella DeBruyn was third in the 1,500 in 4:43.04, while senior Dani Van Lente was third in the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:35.02.

And in the triple jump, NMU athletes swept second through fifth places, led by sophomore Alayna Vandegriff runner-up with a leap of 10.49 meters (34-5) and freshman Allison Schinke third with 10.05 meters (32-11 5/8).

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