Track and field finishes seventh in Jack Johnson Classic

By Ed Rietveld

Over the weekend, track and field traveled to the Twin Cities to take part in the Jack Johnson Classic hosted by the University of Minnesota.

NIU finished seventh out of ten with 25 points. The Golden Gophers won the event, while the Bisons of North Dakota State finished in second place.

Head coach Connie Teaberry said her team’s performance over the weekend was full of ups and downs which led to seventh-place finish.

“I think we had some bright spots and we had some spots throughout the competition that needed to be a little better,” said Teaberry.

The biggest of those bright spots came in the 60-meter hurdles where the Huskies had two runners finish in the top four of the event. Redshirt senior Megan Gregory finished second with a final time of 8.74 seconds. Fellow senior Jenelle McCalla finished fourth with a time of 9.04 seconds.

Gregory said one thing stood out in her mind as the key that allowed her to come in second place.

“I think it was pretty much just my confidence level, you know, being able to compete against some of the people that [are] in my conference and kind of allowing myself to relax and focus on my race,” Gregory said.

Another top finishing Huskie was sophomore Julianne Cronin, who finished fifth in the 600 meters with the career best time of 1:37.00

In the mile, sophomore Jamie Burr finished seven with a time of 2:17.81.

In the field events, freshman Olivia Herzog finished in the top three in the collegiate division of the shot put with a throw measuring 40-04. 75 Freshman Jasmine Maclin finished fifth with a heave of 38-05.

The Huskies will continue their spring season this weekend as they will compete in the Indiana Relays, in Bloomington, Ind.