Eastern Wayne Today

Thirty-eight athletes from Wayne State University's women's outdoor track and field team began their season at the Cedarville Yellow Jacket Open on Saturday. The team secured the top spot with 206 points.

The Warriors had two event winners: Emily Gordon in the 1,500 meters and Reagan Justice in the 5K. Additionally, they achieved nine runner-up finishes and eight third-place finishes.

Coach Lofdahl commented on the team's performance, stating, "The weather and the competition in early-season track meets in the Midwest are always hit-or-miss, so we just wanted to control what we could control, which is our attitude and effort. The team did a great job of that and we were fortunate to have some pretty nice weather and solid competition for our opener."

He added about field events, "In the field events, the wind was one element that did not necessarily cooperate, but we had some nice performances. Peyton Hansen led the way in the throws with a nice PR in her javelin debut as a Warrior. Nicole Warren set a PR in triple jump and also performed well in long jump, and Mikayla Williams did well in high jump and triple."

Lofdahl praised individual performances saying, "It was great to have Emily Gordon back after a redshirt indoor season...Reagan Justice had a solid day as well...Our steeplechasers looked strong right off the bat."

"Our sprinters highlighted the day for us," he continued. "Hanne Bastiaansen crushed all of her races...Sasha-Gay Thompson ran very well...One hurdle side...We had seven runners under 12.90 in the 100 and 10 under 27.0 in the 200."

Lofdahl concluded by emphasizing their goals: "The main goal wasn't to win a meet; it was to start our outdoor season well...The team certainly did those things."

Wayne State finished first with Cedarville second at 141 points followed by Bellarmine with 84 points.

Next Saturday, Wayne State will compete at Oakland's Golden Grizzlies Invitational.