NIU women’s track and field team heads to two events Friday

By Kyle Mathas

DEKALB — The Huskies will be splitting up this weekend to compete in the Eastern Illinois University Friday Night Special in Charleston, Illinois and the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Indiana. 

Both meets will start on Friday, with the Alex Wilson Invitational starting at 11:00 a.m. and the EIU Friday Night Special starting later in the day at 2 p.m. 

The Alex Wilson Invitational will start with field events like weight throw, shot put, long jump, triple jump, pole vault and high jump. 

Track events will also be going on with the opening preliminaries, but will transition into the final races of those events starting at 12:40 p.m. with the 400 meter dash. 

The final race of the day will be at 3:30 p.m. at the 320 meter Mondo track inside the Loftus Sports Center in South Bend. 

It has been three years since the Huskies have competed in this meet, with former Huskie Ali Olsen taking third place in the 800 meter run.  

The EIU Friday Night Special meet will feature the Huskies competing against teams from all over the Midwest, including the Indiana State University Sycamores, the Illinois State University Redbirds, the Southern Illinois University Salukis with 13 other teams. 

Sophomore Taylor Ramsey will be competing with sophomore Diamond Riley and Junior Kenyae Majors in the high jump. Ramsey will also be participating in the long jump later on in the afternoon.  

Seven Huskie runners will be participating in the 60 meter dash, with senior Remy Amarteifio and senior Britney Hew in heat one, senior Jehvania Whyte in heat two, senior Grace Harris, sophomore Jazmyn Smith and first-year Jahnetta Jones in heat 4, and sophomore Kaitlyn Lewis in heat 5. 

Sophomore Hannah Ricci will be running in the 800 meter event with first-year Mikkaela Palmer and the 3000 meter run with junior Sarah Atkins and senior Mercer Mack, which will finish the evening for the Huskies.