EMU Twilight Day One Results (HTML)

With the wind blowing in Ypsilanti on Friday night, the University of Detroit Mercy took to the track for the distance events at the first day of the Eastern Michigan University Twilight meet, where in addition to events of 1500 meters and above, the 400 meter hurdles and several field events were contested.

Junior Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey) highlighted the night for the Titans, competing in the last event of the day, the invitational mile. Liederbach crossed the line in sixth place, posting a time of 4:17.57, nearly two seconds faster than the time that gave him the win in the mile at the UDM-OU Dual on Thursday, and senior Alex Gould (Comstock Park, MI/Comstock Park) finished 10th in 4:27.77.

In the men's 1500 meter run, junior Kevin Smalley (Gladwin, MI/Gladwin) and freshman brother Chris Smalley (Gladwin, MI/Gladwin) faced off against each other, with older sibling Kevin edged out Chris, 4:11.78 to 4:12.63. But sophomore teammate Bob Radlich (Cheektowaga, NY/Cleveland Hill) was the top Titan in the race, posting a time of 4:09.36 and taking 24th place. Freshman Sarah Martinez (Grand Blanc, MI/Flint Powers) led the charge for the UDM women in 5:08.32, while freshman Katrina Oberski (Clyde, MI/Port Huron) was just one second back, in 5:09.56. Rookies Tressanique Hampton (Flint, MI/Southwestern Academy) and Katie Weishaar (Plymouth, MI/Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard) ran in the event as well, clocking times of 5:25.07 and 5:36.08, respectively.

Junior Ryan Ayala (Coopersville, MI/Coopersville) and sophomore Alex Vanias (Leroy, MI/Pine River) battled each other in the 5,000 meter run, and Ayala edged out Ayala, 15:44.46 to 15:46.81, to finish 15th and 16th, while freshman teammate Edwin Gay (Grosse Pointe, MI/GP South) finished in 16:13.05 and sophomore Derek Hoerman (Canton, MI/Canton) clocked a 16:36.24.

A pair of rookies, Anthony Donald (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) and Derek Baker (Carleton, MI/Airport) represented Detroit in the 400 meter hurdles. Donald was first of the duo across the line in 56.2 seconds, while Baker was across in 60.2 seconds. In the women's version of the event, freshman Olivia Smid (Ann Arbor, MI/Whitmore Lake) was the first Titan across the line in 67 seconds, and she was followed closely by junior Kirstin Mooney (Stirling, ON/St. Theresa Catholic) in 68.5 seconds.

UDM was represented by freshman Ja'Quan Patterson (Ypsilanti, MI/Ypsilanti) in the long jump, who recorded a mark of 6.62 meters/21'-8.75" to finish in 7th.

Competition in Ypsilanti resumes Saturday morning with the field events as the javelin gets underway at 10:00 a.m., and running will return to action at 12:10 p.m. with the 4x100 meter relays.