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Track, field places seventh in Minnesota

January 19, 2013
Megan Gregory

Megan Gregory

The Northern Illinois track and field team closed out their weekend in the Land of 10,000 Lakes Saturday with an up-and-down final day in the Jack Johnson Classic.

As a team, the Huskies finished in seventh place with 25 points despite missing several key contributors. Minnesota took first place, while North Dakota State took second in the team standings.

“We had some bright performances and some areas that need improvements,” said NIU head coach Connie Teaberry. “Half the ladies competed with everything they had, but the others went through the motions and that’s what we have to change. The staff will continue to plug away at preparing the ladies physically and mentally and we hope to see improvements.”

Megan Gregory was the top performer on the track, placing second in the 60 hurdles. After taking third in the preliminaries with an 8.96 clip, the senior bested Western Michigan’s Iris Campbell in the finals with a run of 8.74, outpacing her conference rival by three-hundredths of a second.

Meanwhile, fellow Huskie Jenelle McCalla took fourth place in the 60 hurdles with a finals time of 9.04. After clocking in at 9.31 in the prelims and just sneaking into the finals, the senior won the first heat by nearly one-tenth of a second.

Julianne Cronin also scored for NIU on the track with a fifth place finish in the 600 meters. The sophomore from Bartlett, Ill., crossed the finish line at a career-best time of 1:37.00, just beating South Dakota’s Rachel Weinandt to the line.

Jamie Burr posted a top eight effort for the Huskies, taking seventh in the mile with a time of 2:17.81.

In the field, Olivia Herzog and Jasmine Maclin both earned top five finishes in the collegiate division of the shot put. Herzog broke the 40-foot mark with a toss of 40-04.75 (12.31m) for third place, while Maclin took fifth at 38-05.00 (11.71m). In the shot put’s invite division, Sidra Sherrill took ninth place with a mark of 44-02.50 (13.47m).

Ellen Renk kept her streak of strong early season performances going in the triple jump. The freshman’s mark of 35-08.50 (10.88m) was good enough for sixth place, coming one inch short of a top five finish.

The Huskies return to action next weekend with a trip to Indiana for the Indiana Relays Jan. 25-26 inside the Gladstein Fieldhouse.

For more information on NIU track and field and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.