"Alumni, record holders honored at first home track and field meet"
(Ann Arbor, Mich.) Cardinals Track & Field hosted the Legacy Invitational on Saturday, the first home meet since opening the Thunder Sports Complex in 2019. The event featured a full day of activities that started with a special ceremony recognizing former track and field alumnus, record holders, and hall of fame members. The event also honored Kay Thunder Haab who generously enabled the Thunder Sports Complex to come to fruition.
The Cardinals made the most of their home debut with a third place finish. The legacy meet featured other WHAC schools including Lourdes, Rochester, Lawrence Tech, Madonna and Cleary. Defiance University was also in attendance.
Top performances included the women's 4x800m relay who took the gold, running 10:32.48. The relay team included Abbey Bentz (Fort Wayne, IN), Lydia Schroeder (Napoleon, OH), Gabby Porter (Quincy, MI) and Amanda Wood (Macomb, MI).
Wood went on to run the 400m (1:03.91) for a 3rd place finish. She was joined by Seneca Miller (Ypsilanti, MI) who took 2nd (1:00.15). Miller also ran the 200m for a time of 26.74 to win the event. Fellow sprinter Mae Dulin (Detroit, MI) took 2nd in the 100m dash, running 13.60 and 5th in the 200m (28.55).
Megan Espinoza (Manistique, MI) ran to a 7th place finish in the 1,500m with a time of 5:46.39. The women's distance squad saw depth in the 800m with Gabby Porter taking 5th with a time of 2:28.98. Schroeder (2:44.46), Espinoza (3:01.46) and Anna Glomski (Kalamazoo, MI) (3:02.93) also competed in the 800m.
Destiny McBride (Greenfield, WI) debuted in the 400m Hurdles, taking 5th with a time of 1:35.89. Janae Turner (Eastpoint, MI) ran the 100m (14.48) and the 200m (29.89), just missing scoring in both events.
The women wrapped up the track events with a second place finish in the 4x400m with a time of 4:38.04.
In the field events, Payton Lovins (Wauseon, OH) threw a personal best of 23.18m in the discus and competed in the hammer throw (23.11) and shot put (7.74m). Fellow thrower Hayle Flowers saw success her events, throwing a 5th place finish and personal best in the javelin with a toss of 25.96m, just missing the NCCAA qualifying mark by .04m. Flowers also threw 9.18m in the shot put and 24.38m in the discus throw. Lastly, Sierra Stechebar (Rockford, MI) took 5th in the high jump with a jump of 1.54m.
The Cardinals return to action next week for the Outdoor Track & Field WHAC Championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana, hosted by Indiana Tech, April 29-30, 2021. Follow along with the team's twitter account (CUAATFXC) for meet updates.
