Results (PDF)
Records (PDF)
2017 All-Conference Award Winners (PDF)
CEDARVILLE, Ohio – A total of 17 meet records were shattered during the 2017 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships conducted at Cedarville University over the weekend.
Inclement weather tested the patience of the field as a lightning delay ended events early on Friday evening and overnight thunderstorms with more forecasted rain delayed Saturday’s activities for several hours.
But the sun broke through the clouds and with minimal winds, all 20 events were completed flawlessly without complication followed by the traditional awards ceremony.
On the podium collecting team honors was host Cedarville. For the third time in four years, the Yellow Jackets bested the field with a total of 219 points. Cedarville, also the conference indoor team champ, beat runner-up Malone (196 points) and the rest of the field that featured seven other schools.
All eight programs adjusted to a rolling schedule that started at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday. Many student-athletes were hustling to get to their next event after exerting energy on the track or in the field.
The fifth offering of the G-MAC Outdoor Championships simply didn’t disappoint as the following 17 meet standards were broken (out of 20 events): 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,500, 10K, 100 hurdles, 3K steeplechase, 4z1 relay, 4x4 relay, high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot put, discus, hammer and javelin.
The impressive times/distances established in the 100, 3K steeplcase, 4x4 relay, high jump, pole vault and long jump, also represented new overall conference bests.
The league’s coaches voted for individual honors at the conclusion of the meet. Receiving G-MAC Track Athlete of the Year honors was Cedarville’s junior sensation Carsyn Koch, who broke three meet records of her own.
G-MAC Field Athlete of the Year honors was deserving for Kentucky Wesleyan’s Crystal Hopkins, who put on a show in the throws cage all weekend. G-MAC Freshman of the Year went to versatile Ursuline rookie Nicole Yeargin, who collected numerous medals on the awards podium. Cedarville’s Jeff Bolender swept G-MAC Coach of the Year for both the men and women.
Koch won all three events she entered, including the 400-meter dash (56.79), 800-meter run (2:12.94) and 1,500-meter run (4:35.43). The junior is a three-time national 800-meter champion and was the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week this spring. She will be competing in the Payton Jordan Invitational later this week at Stanford University.
Hopkins broke the conference championship record in the shot put and the hammer throw. Her hammer throw distance of 47.66m (over 156 feet) shattered her previous-best conference meet record of 44.72m last year.
Yeargin was lightning in a bottle, winning the 100-meter dash (11.90 seconds) with a new overall conference record. She blistered her way to another conference championship record in the 200-meter dash and was a member of the Arrows’ 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay winning units.
The foursome of Yeargin, who anchored, Janelle Perry, Chelsea Edwards and Amanda Schwartz, recorded a new overall conference record in the 4x4 with a time of 3:53.86. Yeargin also recorded top-10 all-time distances in both the high jump and long jump. She finished second and third in each event, respectively.
Koch’s three titles propelled the Lady Jackets as Cedarville won a handful of additional events including the 5K (Kayla Casaletto), Alaina Spears (10K), pole vault (Amanda Edwards) and javelin (Courtney Kohler).
Ursuline’s Janelle Perry blew away her own conference record in the long jump with a new best of 6.07m (19’ 11”). She also won the 100-meter hurdles by over one full second and was second in the high jump to emerging rival Olga Branney of Malone. Branney now holds the conference indoor and outdoor records in the event.
Malone’s Hannah Thompson set a new 3K steeplechase record by 17 seconds and Pioneers’ freshman Che Tanner established another conference meet record in the discus.
Ursuline would finish third in the team standings with 175 points. Kentucky Wesleyan was fourth with 108 and Alderson Broaddus placed fifth. First-year track and field programs Davis & Elkins and Ohio Valley were sixth and seventh while Trevecca Nazarene rounded out the scoring.