Women’s Track and Field Leads After Day 1 at MAC Outdoor Championships Behind Individual Titles for Figueroa and Vodan
5/10/2018 9:35:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Gabrielle Figueroa and Vanessa Vodan captured individual titles to give the Kent State women's track and field team the lead at the end of the first day of competition at the 2018 Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The championship's first day featured three event finals on the women's side, and the Golden Flashes hold a four-point lead over the field with 20 points. Four event finals were held on the men's and Kent State is sits in fourth with 16 points.
Figueroa got the day started the competition by taking first in the hammer throw. The MAC's top-ranked competitor in the event with a top throw of 190'-4". Vodan gave Kent State a sweep of the day's field events with a personal-best throw of 160'-3" on her final attempt in the javelin throw. That throw ranks eighth in the program record book and secure her spot at the NCAA East Preliminary Round. A dual-sport athlete, Vodan will rejoin the Golden Flashes' softball team at the MAC Tournament in Akron on Friday.
TJ Lawson won all five decathlon events on the day for a great start in his quest to become the first Flash to repeat as MAC champion in the event in consecutive seasons since Chris Caine in 2006 and 2007. The All-American totaled 4,073 points and leads by 309 heading into the final five events of the competition on Friday.
Men's Highlights
Kent State scored in three of four events finals for 16 points on the day. Akron sits atop the leaderboard with 46 points.
Christian Champen and Evan Lesnick combined to earn 10 points in the pole vault. Champen placed third with a top clearance of 16'-7.5" and Lesnick took sixth by clearing 16'-3.5".
Jake Wickey recorded a top mark of 171'-5" to finish fifth in the hammer throw. Ryan Looser placed seventh in the javelin throw with a throw of 165'-10".
TJ Lawson started the day with his highest-scoring event by clocking a 10.97 in the 100-meter dash to earned 867 points. Lawson scored more than 800 points in three additional points.
Jacob Mally sits in sixth with 3,291 points and Ryan Looser is 11th with 3,125 points. Mally took third in the high jump (6'-3.25") and ran an 11.68 in the 100-meter dash for his highest-scoring event of the day (732). Looser earned 744 points in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.54.
Riak Reese ran the fastest time in the prelims for the 200-meter dash, clocking a 20.54 to advance to Saturday's finals.
Women's Highlights
Kent State won two of the three events to sit in first-place with 20 points. Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Ohio are currently in a three-way tie for second with 16 points.
Brielle Collier scored 2,734 points and is in seventh-place in the heptathlon through the competition's first four events. Collier clocked a 14.33 to take third in the 100-meter hurdles and posted personal-bests in both the 200-meter dash (25.83) and shot put (29'-8").
Nicole Yeargin and Tyler Williams both ran terrific times in the 200-meter dash to advance to Saturday's event final. Yeargin's 23.67 ranks second in program history and was the second-fastest prelims time. Williams clocked a 24.15, which is sixth all-time at Kent State.
Previewing Friday
The decathlon (110-meter hurdles) picks back up to open Friday's competition at 10:30 a.m. with the heptathlon (long jump) set for 11 a.m. The women's shot put and long jump get field events started at 12:30 p.m. with the rest of the running prelims slated for 1 p.m.
Live video streaming and live results will be available throughout the day's competition.
Men's Standings
1. Akron – 46
2. Eastern Michigan – 43
3. Central Michigan – 37
4. Kent State – 16
5. Miami – 10
6. Buffalo – 4
Women's Standings
1. Kent State – 20
t2. Bowling Green – 16
t2. Central Michigan – 16
t2. Ohio – 16
5. Miami – 15
6. Toledo – 11
7. Western Michigan – 8
t8. Buffalo – 6
t8. Eastern Michigan – 6
10. Northern Illinois – 6
t11. Akron – 0
t11. Ball State – 0
![Four Kent State track and field athletes pose together on the awards podium wearing light blue Under Armour uniforms and gold MAC Championship medals. Left to right: Chaz Sakala (bib 1196), Sean [last name partially visible] (bib 1157, holding a relay baton), Ryan Gross (bib 1167), and Jacob Stanley (bib 1192). The group smiles for the camera following their relay event at the MAC Outdoor Championships.](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Fkentstatesports.com%2Fimages%2F2026%2F5%2F21%2FIMG_2657.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
