Freshman Paige Marchant made history on Feb. 23 as she claimed three of Eastern Michigan University's eight title wins at the MAC Championships. The Eagles were crowned the 2024 indoor Mid-American Conference champions at the MAC Championships on Bob Parks Track inside Bowen Fieldhouse.
Marchant would notch 30 points on the day as she claimed wins in the 800m with a time of 2:10.26, the mile run in 4:49.67, and the 3,000m run in a meet-record time of 9:25.38. She became the fifth woman in MAC history to win the 800m and mile in the same meet and the first since 2000, while becoming only the second to add the 3,000m title to her total.
After her performance, Marchant was named the MAC Freshman of the Year and Most Valuable Performer.
The EMU women's team would finish with 144.5 points to be crowned champions as Kent State University finished in second place with a total of 85.5 points. Ball State University would finish in third place (61.5 points), Bowling Green State University would finish in fourth place (59.0 points), and Miami University would finish in fifth place (57.5 points).
As for the men's standings, Kent State University would take the MAC title with a total of 155 points while the Eagles finished in second place with 140 points. The University of Akron would finish in third with 128 points, while the University at Buffalo took fourth place with 93 points.
EMU's Saraiah Walkes (Manatee County, Fla.) and Callum Robinson (Goodrich, Ontario) would take wins in both the women's and men's 200m dash to complete the sweep. It marked the fifth time that the same school has captured both titles.
Walkes would also take a victory in the 60m dash with a time of 7.44 as she became the 11th woman in MAC history to accomplish wins in both. Alongside Walkes was Alyson Davis (Summerfield, N.C.) who finished in second place with a time of 7.45, which placed her tied at No. 9 in EMU's all-time history.
In the 4x400 relay, Walkes would join sophomore Tijana Japundzic (Belgrade, Serbia), senior Noriyah Johnson (Chania, Greece), and freshman Josephine Oloye (Iwaro-Oka, Nigeria) as they took home gold with a time of 3:44.74.
In the field, senior Kyra Buffen (Columbus, Ga.) was crowned the triple jump champion as she leaped to a 12.43m jump that ranked No. 8 in program history.
Freshman Claire Allen (Sandwich, Ill.) would also make noise in the field as she tossed a shotput out to 13.51m to finish fifth place and move her to No. 8 in EMU's all-time history. Miranda Caldwell (Plainfield, Ill.) would add herself to the list of gold as she took a victory in the weight throw.
On the men's squad, senior Yvan Lopes Ribeiro (Nice, France) totaled 18 points for the Eagles after finishing third place in the 60m hurdles, long jump, and triple jump. Robinson would add 14 points after his 200m title win and fourth-place finish in the 60m dash, while senior Formula Thompson (St. Catherine, Jamaica) also totaled 14 points with his long jump victory and fourth-place finish in triple jump.
In the field for men's, freshman Ryan Johnson (Springboro, Ohio) would capture gold in the weight throw.
In the heptathlon, freshman Samuel Jeffery (Fonthill, Ontario) finished in third place as he notched a personal best of 4,841 points. Jeffery would total 2,041 points in the final three events, ranking him 10th at EMU while his 8.74 hurdle time placed him eighth in the Eagles' heptathlon rankings.
Freshman Carson Doolittle (Findlay, Ohio) also participated in the heptathlon as he finished with a personal best of 4,454 points to finish sixth place. He notched a time of 2:48.91 in the 1,000m to move into No. 3 all-time.
The Eagles have now captured back-to-back MAC indoor titles after winning its ninth title on Saturday. EMU has now won titles in 1997, 2000, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2023, and 2024.
With the women's gold victory on Saturday, the title stands as the 93rd MAC championship in program history.
Next up, the Eagles now wait until next week for the list of qualifiers for the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston, Mass., on March 8-9. If no member of the EMU teams qualifies, the indoor season will officially come to an end as the outdoor season will begin in Orlando, Fla., on March 15-16 at the Black and Gold Invitational hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF).
