After the first day of the MAC Championships had few opportunities for points, things picked up on Friday, with winners crowned in field events and track events whittling down to finalists for tomorrow's final.
Heptathlon and Decathlon
I'll start with these two after they were the highlight of Day One.
After one day and five events in the ten-round decathlon, sophomore Mike Morgan came into today with a 283 point lead. Alex McCune from Akron would make up that deficit after nine events, but Morgan won the final event - the 1500 meters - with a time of 4:35, which was a career best*, vaulted him back into first place with 7,966 points.
I don't really understand how results relate to points, but that's a school record and the sixth-best decathlon in the NCAA this year. Morgan adds the outdoor decathlon title to his heptathlon crown from the indoor seaon
In addition to Morgan, Emma Siuciak started Day Two in first place in the heptathlon. Despite a season best in the 800 meters, Siuciak finished in second place despite accumulating a season-best 5,347 points.
*Who runs a career best in the final event of the decathlon!? Coaches Mitchell and Witzleben - let's see what he can do when he's rested!
Field Events
UB's bread and butter! While there were track events today, they were mostly qualifying heats for finals tomorrow. Most of the points up for grabs came in the field today.
We might as well start with the best news: Jon Jones is an uncontainable force in the shot put. Jones won his second straight MAC outdoor title with a winning throw of over 64 feet. Better yet, Evan Palmer joined the fun, earning second place with a career best 60 feet 1 inch. Just in case there was any doubt of UB's dominance here, the next-best throw in the meet was nearly 2.5 feet shorter than Palmer's.
Rachel Roberts and Megan Patterson added to the haul with two point-earning finishes themselves. Roberts finished third with a throw of 52 feet, 8 inches - yet another career best in this meet - which Megan Patterson earned a sixth-place finish in throwing the shot over 49 feet herself.
Any it doesn't end there. Senior Jacob Sunday won the javelin throw* by chucking that spear 224 feet for a NEW MAC RECORD, winning the competition by nine feet.
In one other field event, Ryan Billian finished in second in the long jump with a season-best jump of 24'6''. I think Ryan Billian can throw his body further than I can throw a shot.
*Seriously, how cool is the javelin throw?
Sprints
The track events, especially the sprints, were mostly qualifiers for tomorrow's finals, and as such the times themselves don't really matter, just advancing. The following sprinters earned a spot in their respective finals tomorrow:
Malayah White (100m)
Christina Lyttle (100m hurdles)
Camaria Long (200m)
Crystal Graham (400m)
Donna Jeanty & Regine Lazard (400m hurdles)
Miles Lewis & Jalen Law (100m)
Miles Lewis & Ryan Billian (200m)
Ryan Billian & Jake Wray (110m hurdles)
Middle Distance
The following middle distance runners earned a spot in the finals:
Meghan Manley & Asia Henry (800m)
Corinne Birchard (1500m)
Tyler Scheving (800m)
Manley and Henry were 2-3 in qualifying, each winning their respective heat, while just over a second separates the top from the last qualifier on the men's side. Both 800m finals should be races to watch today for UB fans.
There was no heat run for the 1500 meters on the men's side, so I assume everyone is in the finals tomorrow.
Long Distance
No heats in the longer races, just finals. Alec Peinkofer finished just a hair out of second but still earned six points for the men with a personal record 9:03.45
With one day left, the women sit in 9th place (of 12) with 17 points, while the men vaulted all the way up to second with 66 points, 12 behind Akron and just 2 ahead of Eastern Michigan. In both instances however, far more points are up for grabs today than in the first two days combined. It's anyone's championship to win. Go Bulls!