Michigan State University
Raleigh Relays
Brender, James Lead Spartans On Day One Of Raleigh Relays
3/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
RALEIGH, N.C. - The Michigan State track & field teams were back in action on Friday at the North Carolina State Raleigh Relays in their first outdoor meet of the 2015 season. A total of 37 MSU athletes competed in 20 events on the day, which included 15 top-10 individual finishes and two more athletes qualifying for Saturday's finals.
Senior Melanie Brender and junior Alexis Wiersma finished first and second, respectively, in the women's 10,000m race. Brender shattered her previous personal best in the event with a time of 33:53.49, followed by Wiersma at 34:00.23.
"Melanie almost led the race wire to wire. Just a great performance by both her and Ali," said Michigan State Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Walt Drenth. "We've got a lot of good distance runners on the women's side and we will definitely count on those two throughout the remainder of the outdoor season."
In the men's 10,000m event, senior Alex Wilson clocked in with a personal best time of 29:27.69 and finished fifth overall. Fellow senior Ben Carruthers placed 11th with a time of 29:36.90.
Senior Antonio James was the top perfomer in the men's discus with a throw of 55.92m, while sophomore Vinny Gjokaj finished ninth with a mark of 44.28m. James also went on to place sixth in the shot put with a mark of 17.09m.
Freshman Katelyn Daniels recorded a runner-up finish in the women's discus throw with a mark of 53.35m, surpassing the previous Raleigh Relays meet record.
"I thought all of our throwers were really solid today. AJ had a nice win in the discus and then came back to throw pretty well in the shot," said Drenth. "Katelyn Daniels had a really nice day too, holding the meet record in the discus for a little bit. Being just a freshman, she's got a chance to be really good at the end of the year for us."
In the women's 100m preliminaries, senior Jellisa Westney ran the top time of 11.99 to qualify for Saturday's finals. On the men's side, senior DeVantre Whitelow qualified for the men's 100m finals with a time of 10.86, good for seventh best overall. The women's 100m finals will be run at 12:10 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the men's race at 12:15 p.m. ET.
The Spartans had two runners compete in the men's 3,000m steeplechase as junior Chris Collier (9:05.32) finished third, followed by sophomore Max Benoit (9:06.99) in fifth place.
Also competing on the track, senior Tori Franklin placed seventh overall in the women's 400m race with a time of 56:15. Senior Julia Otwell (4:28.47) and junior Caleb Rhynard (14:06.52) cracked the top-10 as well in the women's 1,500m and men's 5,000m races, respectively.
MSU had a pair of individuals finish in the top-10 in the men's long jump as senior Jarred Gambrell led the way with a mark of 6.57m, good for fourth place overall. Sophomore Demarcus Leak finished sixth with a mark of 6.48m.
Freshman Ellen DiPietro cleared the bar at 1.65m to finish third in the women's high jump.
The Spartans will wrap up the meet tomorrow, with events scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. ET. Coverage of the final day's events will include live results and live streaming. Fans can also follow the Michigan State track and field teams on Twitter (@MSUTrackFieldXC) for additional updates throughout the season.
Players Mentioned
