Emporia State had eight athletes advance to Sunday’s MIAA Track and Field Championships.
Brianna Schmitz won the Women’s heptathlon becoming just the second ESU Track and Field athlete to eclipse the 5,000 point barrier. Schmitz began the day in third place but had a personal best of over 15 feet to win the javelin and pull within 17 points of the leader Claire Luallen of Missouri Southern headed into the final event.
Schmitz finished first in the 800m by nearly six seconds and was 11 seconds in front of Luallen. Schmitz’s 5003 points are the most scored by a Hornet since Deandra Doubrava scored 5394 points in winning the 1999 National Championship in the event.
Jazmin Williams finished in second place in the women’s long jump with a jump of 5.95m to improve her provisional qualifier and rank 14th on the national list.
Emporia State had two women advance to Sunday’s finals. Leah Nelson ran a personal best of 2:14 to rank third in the 800m while Hannah Shield turned in a 12.02 in the 100m to rank seventh going into the finals.
Six Emporia State men did qualify for Sunday’s finals. Luke Stenzel led a trio of Hornets in qualifying for the finals of the 400m. Stenzel ran a provisional qualifying time of 47.26 to rank second while Hayden Goodpaster turned in a time of 48.14 to rank fifth and Parker Evans ran 48.21 to qualify seventh for the finals.
The Hornets will have two finalists in the 400m hurdles. Wyatt Seidel ran a personal best of 54.13 to rank fifth while Scott also turned in a personal best with a time of 55.01 to get the final spot in the field on Sunday.
Jared Reinke is the other Hornet to qualify for Sunday’s finals. He ran a season’s best 1:53.71 to qualify fourth for the finals of the 800m.
The final day of action at the MIAA Outdoor Championships will get underway at 11:00 a.m.
