Men’s Track and Field Prepares for Split-Squad Weekend

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's track and field team concludes its indoor regular season slate with a pair of meets this weekend, as the program is set to compete at the Silverston Invitational hosted by the University of Michigan Friday, Feb. 21 inside the U-M Indoor Track Building, along with the Alex Wilson Invitational at the University of Notre Dame Saturday, Feb. 22 inside the Loftus Sports Center.

The Eagles make their second trip of the season to Ann Arbor, Mich. after taking part in the Wolverine Invitational, Jan. 11, while returning to Notre Dame two weeks after competing at the Meyo Invitational, Feb. 7-8.

Eastern was especially strong in the field events at the GVSU Big Meet, Feb. 14, sweeping the podium in the prestigious weight throw invite. In all, three Eagles broke the 20-meter plateau: freshman Kappa Bedoui (Doha, Qatar-Aspire Academy) won the event with a distance of 21.05 meters, redshirt senior Zach Harkey (Huron, Ohio-Huron) was right behind in second place at 21.03, and redshirt senior Taige Bryant (Edmond, Okla-Edmond Memorial) claimed third place with a distance of 20.38 meters. For his part, Harkey also ranked ninth in the shot put with a toss of 14.15 meters.

Additionally, freshman Omar Ibrahim (Cairo, Egypt-Aspire Academy) was the runner-up in the general weight throw with heave of 16.62 meters, and placed eighth overall in the shot put at 14.19 meters. Newcomer Brian Jones (Grand Blanc, Mich.-Grand Blanc) was second in the shot put at 14.87 meters, while junior Skyler Lester (Marietta, Ga.-Marietta) placed third in the high jump as he achieved a height of 2.06 meters. Junior Chukwusom Enekwechi (Valley Stream, N.Y.-Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences (Monroe College)) placed second in the shot put invite with a toss of 17.66 meters, and sixth in the weight throw invite as he recorded a heave of 19.01 meters.

Meanwhile, junior Owen Richardson (Basingstoke, England-The Costello School) won his fourth 200-meter title of the season with a time of 21.37 seconds, won his heat of the 60-meter preliminaries with a time of 6.91 seconds, and finished fifth in the title race as he crossed the finish line in 6.88. From there, junior Owen Day (Ottawa, Ontario-International School of Dusseldorf) was sixth overall in the 800-meter race with a mark of 1:50.77.

In the distance events, sophomore harrier Baldvin Magnusson (Akureyri, Iceland-Hull University) was second in his section of the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:14.14, while redshirt freshman Chris Devaney (New Plymouth, New Zealand-New Plymouth) finished 10th in a separate section of that event at 14:38.03. Freshman Wilho Hautala (Heinola, Finland-Lahden Lyseo) recorded his highest finish as an Eagle, ranking ninth in the 3,000-meter race with a mark of 8:19.44.

Field events at the Silverston Invitational are expected to begin at 4 p.m., while running events get underway at 5 p.m. As for the Alex Wilson Invitational, field and running events are expected to begin at 11 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Kappa Bedoui

Taige Bryant

Owen Day

Chris Devaney

Chukwusom Enekwechi

Zach Harkey

Wilho Hautala

Omar Ibrahim

Brian Jones

Skyler Lester

Baldvin Magnusson

Owen Richardson

Eastern Michigan Athletics