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Track, field completes run at UTEP Invitational

April 14, 2014
Latesha Bigby. Photo credit: Jorge Salgado

Latesha Bigby. Photo credit: Jorge Salgado

Competing in Texas for the second time in three weekends, the NIU track and field team came away with 11 top 10 finishes Saturday at the UTEP Invitational.

On the track, Latesha Bigby (Hanover, Jamaica/Butler CC) came away with three finishes of seventh or better, while three different Huskies claimed high placings in field events.

Bigby’s best finish of the day came in the 400 hurdles, where she ran 1:02.45 to finish in third place. The Jamaican junior took fifth place in the 100 hurdles earlier in the day with a 14.06 clip, then returned later to post a personal-record time of 12.01 in the 100 meters en route to a seventh-place showing.

Alongside Bigby in the 400 hurdles was teammate Lydia Mitchell (Tolono, Ill./Unity), who crossed the finish line at 1:12.64 for a 10th-place finish. Other top finishes on the track came courtesy of Carly Pederson (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) and Claire McAuley (Glasgow, Scotland/Glasgow School of Sport), as the pair grabbed ninth and 10th in the 1500 meters with times of 5:09.07 and 5:11.17, respectively.

A pair of Huskies earned personal-best performances in the 200 meters. Alexandria Isom (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) topped her PR with a run of 25.43, while senior Erica Miller (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) clocked in at 28.06.

In the field, Michaela Dwyer (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) set a career-best mark in the high jump with a mark of 5-04.50 (1.64m) for a third-place finish. Freshman Logan Tillmon (Rockford, Ill./East) took eighth in the event at 4-10.50 (1.49m). Jasmine Wilson (Elmira, Ontario, Canada/Elmira) threw 120-02 (36.63m) in the javelin, good for fifth place.

Michaela Dwyer. Photo credit: Jorge Salgado

Michaela Dwyer. Photo credit: Jorge Salgado

In the relays, NIU’s reserve 4×100 relay took seventh at 48.32, while the 4×400 group ran 4:23.82 to end up in sixth.

The Huskies come closer to home next weekend when they compete at the DePaul Invitational Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. Meanwhile, NIU’s top distance runners will head out to southern California to run at the Mt. SAC Relays Friday and the Beach Invitational Saturday.

In other news …

NIU distance athletes Leah Raffety (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) and Juliane Totzke (Graefenroda, Germany/Carl Zeiss Gymnasium) competed Friday in the 5000 meters at the Chicagoland Championships. Totzke took seventh place at 17:58.62 and Raffety finished eighth at 17:58.96.

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