INDIANAPOLIS – Championship weekend at Cedarville is only 10 days away as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Indoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week awards were announced on Tuesday morning.
The Doden Field House will welcome all participating member institutions on Friday-Saturday for the 2021 Great Midwest Indoor Championships.
The full schedule of events, heat sheets and declaration forms will be released this week as teams make their way to the competition site on Thursday. The event is closed to fans per COVID-19 institutional protocol and the championships will be streamed in their entirety on the Great Midwest Digital Network.
Over the past weekend of competition, Findlay welcomed Hillsdale and Malone for a tri-meet on Saturday while Walsh was at an invitational hosted by Mount Vernon Nazarene. Cedarville engaged Ohio Wesleyan in an away dual and multiple teams were entered in the Grand Valley State-hosted Big Meet for Friday.
Teams have one more weekend of the regular season before getting ready to try and bring down meet records and compete for all-conference awards at Cedarville.
Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Kajsa Johansson
Hillsdale
Sprints
Senior
North Oaks, MN (Breck HS)
It was two different events and two different conference records for the speedy senior as the Chargers competed at the GVSU Big Meet and Oiler Invite over the weekend.
Johansson shattered the 200-meter record and was also part of the new 4x400-meter relay conference record (HC men also broke the conference record) to add momentum going into the championship meet.
Johansson broke the longest standing indoor record from 2017 by dashing to a 200-meter dash runner-up finish in 24.30 seconds. Already owning the championship meet record, Johansson passed Ursuline’s Nicole Yeargin (currently running T&F at USC), who held the top spot for awhile at 24.41.
Johansson currently ranks 11th in Division II among all provisional 200-meter qualifiers.
For the second straight week, the Chargers bettered the 4x400-meter relay record. The 3:48.47 recorded at the Hillsdale Wide-Track Classic didn’t last long as the same foursome of Johansson, Dakota Stamm, Shura Ermakov and Alanna O’Learly, combined for a 3:47.83.
The Chargers’ newest provisional time is ranked second in Division II only behind Grand Valley State.
Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week
Ndidiamaka Anaraodo
Walsh
Throws
Junior
Columubus, OH (Worthington Kilbourne HS)
Anaraodo has definitely been on the radar for weekly honors this season and broke through with a pair of wins in shot put and weight at the MVNU Inaugural Indoor Meet.
Her efforts in both events marked PR’s as she recorded a 16.91m (55’ 5.75”) provisional distance in the weight throw and a 15.06m (49’ 5”) in the shot put.
Anaraodo is now ranked fifth in Division II in the shot put and just barely missed a top-10 spot in the conference list.
This is Anaraodo’s first conference career weekly honor.