GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – At the 2024 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Outdoor Championships, the Trine University women's track & field team placed second overall, with Hope College winning the team championship. The Flying Dutch tallied 240 points and the Thunder had 182 at meet's end.
Trine had two individual champions in Abby Sanner and Bailey Puckett. Sanner threw the discus 36.77 meters (120' 7.00") to nab the top spot on the podium while Puckett ran a time of 4:33.01 in the 1500-meter run, a new personal best.
Along with two event champions, the Thunder also set a new school record in the 4x100-meter relay. The team of Aniyah Small, Emma Forker, Kaleigh Maschino and Mackenzie Miller were second with a time of 48.79 seconds. The 4x400-meter relay team consisting of Adrianne Jackson, Brynn Mericle, Kristin Baker and Anissa Rios ran a 4:10.40 to place fourth.
The team had a pair of second place finishes to highlight their performance in the hurdle events. Mericle ran a 15.38-second 100-meter hurdle time to gain runner-up status with Jackson seventh at 16.54 seconds. In the 400-meter hurdles, Baker completed the race in 1:06.53 to score a second-place finish. In addition, Mericle was third (1:07.54) and Jackson sixth (1:08.90).
Miller led the team in both the 100-meter dash (12.25 seconds) and 200-meter dash (25.33 seconds). She was third in each event. Small and Forker each scored points for the team in both events as well. Small was fifth in the 100 (12.66 seconds) and seventh in the 200 (26.47 seconds) while Forker placed sixth in both the 100 (12.68 seconds) and 200 (26.46 seconds).
Trine took up spots 5-8 on the podium in the 5000-meter run with Puckett leading the way at 18:22.70. Behind her were Sidney Swick (18:42.88), Hannah Parker (19:06.99) and Chloe Goodrich (19:08.37). Brianna Medcalf was fifth as well in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.42 and joining her as scoring team members were Halle Overmire in sixth (2:21.33) and Emily Wahl in eighth (2:40.14).
Isabel Ferguson was the team leader in both the triple jump (10.12 meters / 33' 2.50") and high jump (1.51 meters / 4' 11.50"). Ferguson locked up fifth in the triple jump and seventh in the high jump to conclude her day. Additionally, Malena Ricks was fourth in the javelin (34.67 meters / 113' 9.00") and Katie Berlew was sixth (30.85 meters / 101' 2.0").
The Thunder will be in action in several last chance meets leading up to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from May 25-27.