INDIANAPOLIS – Cedarville’s Daniel Michalski and Malone’s Duke Taylor were named Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week on Monday.
 
Michalski provisionally qualified in a pair of events while competing at the Bryan Clay Invite at Azusa Pacific University.
 
The junior emerged with new conference records in both the 1,500-meter race and the 3K steeplechase. Michalski won the steeplechase with a field of 64 and beat out runners from Arkansas, Weber State, Boise State and Idaho, among others.
 
Michalski now possesses nine of the top-10 conference times in the 3K steeplechase as he bested his PR by nearly eight seconds with a time of 8:52.01.
 
In the 1,500-meter race, the native from Xenia, Ohio, finished 50th out of 269 with more Division I runners in the large field. Michalski was the previous record holder in the event and ran a time of 3:46.71 to break his old standard of 3:47.80.
 
His 1,500-meter time currently ranks 11th across Division II and the steeplechase time currently ranks fourth. He was less than a second away from meeting the auto-qualifying standard in the steeplechase.
 
Taylor’s talent was on display at the Walsh University Invitational, an institution scheduled to join the league for the 2017-18 academic year.
 
Taylor improved his stock even more in the discus throw, setting a new conference record and breaking his own G-MAC-best throw of 55.47m (182 feet).
 
Taylor’s effort in the hammer throw was second to only his own at 56.91 meters and he also competed in shot put. The senior from East Canton, Ohio, helped the Pioneers finish fourth out of 16 teams in attendance.
 
Taylor now ranks fifth across DII in the discus throw, inching that much more close to the auto-qualifying standard.