Track and field finished in fourth place and had three event victories as it enjoyed an historic weekend at the MAC Indoor Championships.

The Huskies’ 79 team points was good for fourth out of 12 teams Friday and Saturday in Mount Pleasant, Mich. It’s the highest point total and highest finish in school history at the MAC Indoor Championships. They finished 10th last year with 37 points.

“That’s a huge accomplishment for a team and a big jump in a short period of time,” said head coach Connie Teaberry. “A lot of that is due to the ladies’ hard work and dedication, but it’s also maturity. The girls are mentally getting stronger and physically getting stronger. So, moving up is a huge accomplishment for the team and one we will not take for granted. We’ll work even harder to make sure we can stay there.”

The Huskies took first place in three events over the two days, winning the pentathlon, 60-meter hurdles and 4-by-400-meter relay. They came into the meet having only won two indoor championship events in school history.

“Our team overall did very, very well,” said senior Latesha Bigby. “We went to war, and even though we made minor [mistakes] we went to war and we did our best.”

Claudette Day

Sophomore Claudette Day became the first Huskie in school history to win the pentathlon at the MAC Indoor Championships. She scored 3,838 across the five events, the opening competition Friday.

Day said going into the final event of the heptathlon — the 800-meter run — she had figured out what she needed to get first place but still gave it her all.

“Once I looked up and saw the time [2:29.57] I knew I won,” Day said. “It felt really good.”

Latesha Bigby

Bigby placed first in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday, becoming the fourth Huskie to be crowned an indoor conference champion. She registered a personal-record time of 8.42 seconds.

“I’m just very proud of myself,” Bigby said. “I didn’t see that coming. I didn’t expect to get the first place. I had to compete with some of the best in the conference, and to know I won the race I feel very, very good about that. I felt really good to see my name at the top and get the win for my team.”

Four-by-400-meter relay team

The Huskies closed out the MAC Indoor Championships with a first-place finish in the 4-by-400-meter relay. It’s the first win in the event at the conference indoor championships in school history.

Bigby, senior Julianne Cronin, sophomore A’Iesha Irvin-Muhammad and freshman Ashanti Hutton combined for a time of 3:47.82. Their win in the final event of the competition Saturday contributed 10 points to NIU’s 79 team points and fourth-place finish.

“I was elated that we took fourth place,” Day said. “I was really happy because last year we didn’t do so well. This year to come back and get fourth [place] and show everybody that we could do it, it was a great feeling.”