NIU track and field competed Saturday at the Normal Invite in Normal, Illinois, weeks after they picked up four first-place finishes at the Redbird Challenge – also in Normal – on March 29.
After finding success in its last trip to Normal, it was no different this time around.
The Huskies had seven top-three finishers in their respective events, four Huskies put up a season best performance and two Huskies put up a personal best performance.
The Huskies succeeded once again in the high jump competition, as they had three top-five finishers in Saturday’s competition.
Freshman Jasmijn Raes claimed second with a season-best height of 1.74 meters. With Saturday’s dominant performance, she is now tied for second-best in the Mid-American Conference in the event this season.
Sophomore Arianna Calloway finished with the same height as Raes but finished in second due to a tie breaker. Now, the three top high jumpers for the Huskies have all cleared 1.74 meters outside this season.
Nobody has touched senior Kamiya Dendy’s season record of 1.77 meters so far, which she set at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet on Valentine’s Day. Dendy did not reach that height at this invitational, but she finished fifth in the event with a height of 1.71 meters.
Freshman Precious Umukoro added another runner-up finish to her belt, taking second in triple jump after leaping 11.73 meters.
The Huskies runners took care of business as well, having five top-five finishers on the track. Both freshman Esther Momalife and Sam Huber made it out of the prelims into the finals for the 100-meter dash.
Momalife claimed third place in the finals with the 17th fastest time in the MAC, finishing in 12.11 seconds to set a personal best. Huber claimed eighth place with a time of 12.35 seconds.
Both freshmen also helped lead the 4×100 team to a third-place finish with freshman Stella Oyebode and sophomore Faith Rouse helping in the other two lanes. Oyebode had a stellar individual performance as well, finishing fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.57.
The seniors also had a dominant day with Talayssia Sanders sprinting to the finish line for third place in the 400-meter dash, running a season-best time of 56.40 seconds. Senior Joy Jackson took second in the 5,000 meters with 19:39.90.
The throwing team featured two top finishers this meet with graduate student Giorgia Fino placing fourth in the javelin event with a throw of 34.35 meters and junior Ella Bertram finished fifth in shot put with a throw of 12.32 meters.
Bertram also competed in the discus competition finishing seventh with her personal best toss and 20th best this spring in the MAC of 39.03 meters.
UP NEXT
On Friday and Saturday, the Huskies will compete at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas.
