The track and field team competed in two days of events during the Mid-American Conference Championships Friday and Saturday. The girls came in seventh overall as Central Michigan took home the gold for the Chippewas. NIU set many personal records and took home two “Freshman of the Year” awards during the competition.

Senior jumper Jehvania Whyte performed well in the long jump with a distance of 5.91 meters during day one. On day two, Whyte won her second consecutive MAC indoor triple jump title, jumping a distance of 12.96 meters.

{{tncms-inline account=”#MACtion” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BACK-TO-BACKNIU’s Jehvania Whyte wins her second Indoor T&F Triple Jump title with a distance of 12.96m (42-06.25)! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MACtion?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MACtion</a> <a href="https://t.co/IvJRnq5HvI">pic.twitter.com/IvJRnq5HvI</a></p>— #MACtion (@MACSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MACSports/status/1099389051617071104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/MACSports/status/1099389051617071104″ type=”twitter”}}

Head Coach Connie Teaberry said Whyte has been dealing with a knee injury this season but  is very proud of her performance.

“Jehvania came close to breaking her school and meet record today,” Teaberry said. “She has been fighting knee pain this Indoor season, and had not competed much trying to get healthy for this very moment. Winning for the second time shows her willingness to sacrifice for the team, so obtaining first again made her season sacrifices worthwhile. I’m extremely proud of her tenacity.”

In the 60-meter hurdles, junior multi event runner Remy Amarteifio earned fourth place for NIU with a time of 8.40 seconds.

Related: Huskies compete at Grand Valley State

Sophomore distance runner Nora Finnegan scored points for her team with a seventh place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14:32 minutes while first-year Taylor Ramsey cleared 1.65 meters to place eighth in the high jump.

For the second year in a row, a Huskies earned the title of MAC Indoor Track “Freshman of the Year”, awarded to first-year sprinter Taylor Tilmon. Sophomore distance runner, Ashley Tutt won the award at last year’s championships.

Tilmon placed seventh in the 400-meter run with a time of 55.69 seconds, and placed fourth with the rest of her 4×400 relay team with a time of 3:44.93 minutes. The team consisted of Tilmon, first-year sprinter Kaitlyn Lewis and junior multi-event runners Amarteifio and NeShay Curtis.

Another young Huskie put up big numbers as first-year sprinter and jumper Diamond Riley placed second in the triple jump with a distance of 12.63 meters. Riley is the first Huskie to earn the field event “Freshman of the Year” award.

Coach Teaberry said she is extremely proud of the young talent that continues to put up numbers every week but understands what needs to improve.

“We need more bodies adding the the point total,” Teaberry said. “An improved place also comes from maturity in the sport. The points we put on the board yesterday and today out of 48 points over half came from our freshman & sophomores.”

NIU now prepare for the outdoor track season starting March 15-16 at the Black and Gold Invitational, hosted by Central Florida in Orlando.