Results
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A pair of familiar faces in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference performed to All-American status at the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday.
Malone's Duke Taylor, the G-MAC Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, and Ursuline's Janelle Perry, the G-MAC Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, each starred in the Crossplex.
Taylor placed eighth in the weight throw while Perry came in 11th in the long jump while a handful of preliminary rounds were also completed as part of the NCAA DII Winter Festival that runs through Saturday.
Taylor tossed 18.75 meters to advance into the finals where he topped his attempt at 18.84m to put his name in the conference record books once again.
He became the G-MAC first men's indoor track and field All-American in any event while competing with a glut of talented throwers. The top 12 placewinners in weight throw all hailed from the Midwest Region.
Taylor's 18.84 meters ranks third in conference indoor history; he owns the top seven distances in the event while winning G-MAC Athlete of the Week honors six times in 2016-17.
Perry launched herself 5.69 meters in her first attempt. She initially was seventh as the rest of the field completed the remainder of their attempts. Her number of 5.69 now ranks fourth in conference history; the sophomore standout still possesses all top 10 distances in the event.
Perry's teammate and G-MAC Freshman of the Year Nicole Yeargin ran 56.03 in the 400 prelims and will run in the 200-meter first round race tomorrow at 6 p.m. CST.
Clocking a 4:52.47 mile was Cedarville senior Olivia Esbenshade, who finished 11th but didn't quite advance to the final. Esbenshade was the G-MAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and G-MAC Runner of the Year during cross country season.
The 4:52.47 ranks as the fourth-best time in conference history. She also set the conference indoor championship record recently.
Defending NCAA 800-meter champion Carsyn Koch of Cedarville finished fourth of eight in the prelims to qualify for the final.
She clocked a 2:09.06, nearly identical to her prelim run in the 2016 NCAA indoor meet before she cut four seconds in her final time to stand atop the podium.
Another Cedarville Yellow Jacket made a big impression as junior Daniel Michalski blazed to a 4:07.69 in the mile to qualify for the finals. His time ranks second in conference indoor history behind his own PR at the GVSU Big Meet earlier this year.
On Deck: The Cedarville women's and men's DMR units will race tomorrow at 6:55 and 7:15 p.m. CST. Perry competes in the pentathlon beginning at 12:05 CST starting at the 60-meter hurdles. The men's mile and women's 800-meter finals are on Saturday.