Eagles Ready for Dual-Meet Weekend

HILLSDALE, Mich./ COLUMBUS, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) - After a weekend's rest from competition for most of the Eastern Michigan University women's track and field team, the Eagles prep for a split-squad effort Thursday-Saturday, April 25-27. The Green and White will send student-athletes to compete in both the Hillsdale "GINA" Relays, hosted by Hillsdale College, and the Jesse Owens Classic, hosted by the Ohio State University.

Head Coach Sue Parks will take freshmen Kaitlyn St. Bernard (Newport, Mich.-Jefferson) and Emily DeLine (Newport, Mich.-Airport), sophomore Madison Distelrath (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Homestead), and redshirt senior Allie Knoll (Warren, Mich.-Warren Mott) to the Hillsdale "GINA" Relays to compete in the 5000m Thursday, April 25. The rest of the squad will travel to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the Jesse Owens Classic Friday and Saturday, April 26-27.

Both the Jesse Owens Classic and Hillsdale "GINA" Relays have been annual events on Eastern Michigan's schedule since the 2013-14 season, while EMU most recently competed in the Hillsdale "GINA" Relays Saturday and Sunday April 26-27, 2018, racking up nine top-10 finishes throughout the team's two days of competition. The Green and White's first day in Hillsdale, Mich. saw then-freshman Distelrath lead the Eagles in her first official 5000m collegiate competition with a time of 17:17.36, good for third place in a talented pool of over 100 runners. Sunday saw then-senior Janina Pollatz and then-junior Ayanna O'Neal each walk away with gold medals, as they each earned top marks, Pollatz in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.97m and O'Neal in the 100m hurdles time of 14.21. Right behind O'Neal was then-redshirt junior Tifani Byrd (Toms River, N.J-Toms River North), finishing third in the hurdles with a time of 15.15. In the field events, then-freshmen Kadian Clarke (Kingston, Jamaica-Immaculate Conception) and Savanah Luthman (Minster, Ohio-Minster) gathered career-best efforts in the shot put and hammer throw, respectively. Clarke cleared 13.09m in the shot put, good for eighth place, while Luthman notched a heave of 44.08m in the hammer throw, good for a 15th-place finish.

Meanwhile, the Eagles' most recent trip to the Jesse Owens Classic came April 20-21, 2018. Friday saw two EMU student-athletes compete at the event, as then-senior Claire Mesa ran the 1500m and then-sophomore Kristine Bourg (Shorewood, Ill.-Joliet West) competed in the javelin throw. Mesa earned a 28th-place finish in the 1500m, recording a career-best time of 4:44.22, and Bourg marked a personal-best javelin effort of 40.82m for ninth place. Day two of the event saw the Green and White compete in eight events, led by then-senior Jasmine Jones' first-place finish in the 400m with a top-collegiate time of 53.96, and a second-place dash in the 200m, crossing the finish line with a time of 23.54. Pollatz paced the Eagles' field efforts, recording the third-best pole vault in school history with a career-best vault of 4.17m for a first-place finish.

The Hillsdale "GINA" Relays kick off on Thursday, April 25 with the 3000m steeplechase at 6 p.m, while the Eagles' four distance runners will begin their 5000m competition at 6:45 p.m. The Jesse Owens Classic gets underway Friday, April 26 at 2 p.m. with the hammer throw, and continues Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with the shot put. Live results for the GINA Relays will be available here, while a link to results from the Jesse Owens Classic, when available, can be found on the Women's Track and Field schedule page on EMUEagles.com.

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Players Mentioned

Kristine Bourg

Tifani Byrd

Kadian Clarke

Madison Distelrath

Jasmine Jones

Allie Knoll

Savanah Luthman

Claire Mesa

Janina Pollatz

Kaitlyn St. Bernard

Eastern Michigan Athletics