The Wildcats won eight events, with one of them being a relay. And that meant two NMU runners were double winners — Crystal Walker and Ahna Larson were among the Northern foursome in the triumphant 4-by-100-meter relay that won in 49.10 seconds.

Walker also won the 100 hurdles in 14.32, while Larson, who graduated from Gladstone High School, took the 400 hurdles in 1:02.49.

The other two members of Northern’s 4-by-100 victors were Ellyse Wolfrath and Ciara Ostrenga, who is from Escanaba.

Other individual event winners for the Wildcats were Skylar Grubb in the 1,500 run in 4:55.25; Claire Waligorski with her first career win in the 5,000 in 18:48.02; Sofi Diop in the triple jump with a leap of 11.73 meters (38 feet, 5 3/4 inches); Anya VanSweden with a more than 40-second victory in the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:36.94; and Wilme Els in the javelin with 39.45 meters (129-5 1/8).

Northern Michigan University’s Ahna Larson clears a hurdle during an outdoor track and field meet held at Grand Valley State in Allendale during the 2024 spring season. (Photo courtesy NMU)

NMU had even more second- and third-place finishes, along with top-five finishes where they dominated in some events with multiple high places.

In the 1,500, in addition to Grubb winning, the Wildcats swept all of the top five places with Ella DeBruyn runner-up in 4:58.67, followed by Ella Sweeney in 4:59.69, Sophia Potter in 5:01.90 and Paige Anderson in 5:05.22.

In the 100 hurdles, after Walker’s win, Diop was third in 14.97 seconds, and in the 400 hurdles, after Larson’s victory was Elle McKinney in fourth in 1:11.78.

Ostrenga was runner-up in the 200 in 25.47 seconds, while Beverly Harper was third in the 800 in 2:18.56.

In field events, after Diop won the triple jump, Alayna Vandegriff was second with 11.63 meters (38-1 7/8).

After Els’ win in the javelin, Teiolla Harvey was third with 35.97 meters (118-0 1/8).

In the long jump, after Walker’s victory, Diop was runner-up with 5.47 meters (17-11 3/8).

In addition, Kaitlin Smith was second in the pole vault after clearing a height of 3.50 meters (11-5 3/4), while Vandegriff was fourth and teammate Emily Czeiszperger fifth after each cleared 3.35 meters (10-11 7/8).

Two NMU athletes had top-10 finishes in possibly the most grueling challenge, the seven-event heptathlon.

Northern’s Eva Zonca finished third with 3,747 points, placing in the top nine in every event among 15 competitors. Her top finishes were third in the 100 hurdles in 15.56 seconds and fourth in the 200 dash in 27.54.

The Wildcats’ Elizabeth Simpson was ninth with 3,063 points, including seventh in the 100 hurdles in 17.68.

NMU has an interesting trip for a select group from the team this week. They head to Southern California to participate in three meets between Thursday and Saturday, the Cal State Twilight Meet in Los Angeles over all three days, along with the Beach Invitational in nearby Long Beach on Saturday and the Bryan Clay Invite in Azusa, also Saturday.

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