Northern Michigan University’s Danielle Lund, right, stands on the podium after her third-place finish in the hammer throw at the GLIAC Outdoor Championships in women’s track and field on Thursday. A day later, the Manistique High School graduate would also score the Wildcats’ lone victory at the meet, winning the discus with a toss of nearly 141 feet. (Photo courtesy NMU)

ALLENDALE — Led by Manistique High School graduate Danielle Lund’s victory in the discus, the women’s track and field team at Northern Michigan University finished in third place at the conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Grand Valley State over three days last week.

Held Wednesday through Friday, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet featured 11 teams as NMU totaled 113 points. The host Lakers won in a runaway by nearly a hundred points with 245 as runner-up Wayne State had 150 1/2.

Following the third-place Wildcats was Wisconsin-Parkside in fourth with 102, then Saginaw Valley State with 82 1/2, Davenport 68, Purdue Northwest 33, Ferris State 10, Michigan Tech 7, Lake Superior State 4 and Roosevelt 3.

Lund, a sophomore at Northern, was named the Field Athlete of the Meet and High Point Athlete of the Meet with her top-four finishes in three field events, the discus, hammer throw and shot put.

She won the discus by about 4 1/2 feet — or 1 1/2 meters — with a toss of 42.97 meters, or 140 feet, 11 3/4 inches. Runner-up Elizabeth Miller of Davenport posted a throw of 41.58 meters (136-5).

Lund also reached the podium with a third-place finish in the hammer throw with a fling of 51.66 meters (169-5 7/8), while taking fourth in the shot put with a heave of 13.22 meters (43-4 1/2).

NMU junior Caterina Thelen placed sixth in the discus with 39.18 meters (128-6 1/2), while senior teammate Alizabeth Little was seventh in the shot put with 12.35 meters (40-6 1/4).

In all, Northern had nine top-three podium finishes as Lund wasn’t the only Wildcat to do well in field events.

Senior Teiolla Harvey was runner-up in the javelin with 37.97 meters (124-6 7/8), while freshman Alyssa Tumminaro was second in the pole vault after clearing 3.49 meters (11-5 1/4).

Pole vault winner Tess Carlson of Davenport and NMU junior and third-place finisher Kaitlin Smith also cleared the same height, but their places were determined on tiebreakers.

NMU junior Natasha Nowakowski was seventh in the javelin with 33.16 meters (108-9).

Sophomore Alayna Vandegriff was third in the triple jump with a leap of 11.04 meters (36-2 5/8), while freshman Allison Schinke was seventh with 10.70 meters (35-1 1/4) and Nowakowski eighth with 10.68 meters (35-0 1/2).

On the track, the Wildcats had three bronze-medal winners.

Marquette product and NMU junior Baux Truckey was third in the 200-meter dash in 24.35 seconds, also finishing sixth in the 400 in 57.39.

She was part of the Wildcats’ third-place 4-by-400 relay that clocked 3:56.78 that also included freshman Maya Woods, freshman Lily Phillips and senior Beverly Harper.

Senior Sophia Potter was third in the 10,000 in 35:34.63 with Northern cross country standout and senior Madi Szymanski fifth in 36:47.02 as each ran personal-best times.

Harper just missed the podium in fourth place in the 800 in 2:13.68, less than two seconds out of third, while junior Lamar Gordon was also fourth in the 1,500 in 4:38.79, less than 2 1/2 seconds out of third.

Some other top finishes for Northern included junior Eva Zonca placing fifth in the seven-event heptathlon with 4,060 points. Her highlights included taking second in the 100 hurdles in 15.05 seconds and fourth in the high jump after clearing 1.51 meters (4-11 1/2).

Nowakowski was seventh in the heptathlon with 3,980 points, including a win in the javelin with a toss of 31.47 meters (103-3) and second in the shot put with a throw of 9.65 meters (31-7 7/8), while sophomore Elizabeth Simpson was 11th with 3,378 points.

Szymanski was sixth in the 5,000 in 17:26.79, as was Woods in the 400 hurdles in 1:04.69.

NMU’s 4-by-100 relay of Woods, Zonca, freshman Tashay Faulkner and junior Mikayla de Souza was seventh in 50.05, also the place taken by senior Dani Van Lente in the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:19.15.

Taking eighth was sophomore Anya VanSweden in the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:19.23, Phillips in the 400 hurdles in 1:05.71 and sophomore Ella DeBruyn in the 1,500 in 4:42.50.

VanSweden and NMU sophomore Celia Wallace, who was 12th, ran personal bests in the steeplechase.

With the possibility of attending a last-chance meet this week in an effort to reach NCAA Division II national meet qualifying times or distances, the only other event left on the track calendar is the NCAA Outdoor Championships set for Emporia, Kansas, from May 21-23.

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