It was quite the weekend for the indoor track and field team at Ashland University, as they are now the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) champions. The Eagles hosted their conference meet at home on Feb. 27-28 at the Niss Athletic Center.  

The women’s team won the team title with 179.5 points, making this their third conference title in a row. The men’s team won their first G-MAC championship in program history, as they had not won a title since 2009.  

Contributing to the wins were records broken and provisional marks made for the Eagles as they now prepare for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championship which will take place in Virgina beach, Va. on March 13-14.  

Freshman Jon Lutz earned the men’s Freshman of the Meet honors thanks to his G-MAC record tying run in the men’s 60-meter hurdles on day one. He tied Ashland alum T.J. Skinner’s time of 7.80 in the prelim on day one, and then won the event on day two running a 7.81 in the finals.  

Also winning events was none other than junior Molly Winner. On day one she won the women’s weight throw with a top heave of 20.97 meters, which just beat out teammate fellow junior Leslie Pollock, who placed second, throwing 20.82 meters.  

Winner would then go on to not only win the women’s shot put, but also break the G-MAC record with a throw of 16.71 meters. Both efforts contributed to Winner’s Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet title.  

However, the two did not do it on their own. On day one, five Eagle championship efforts led to five golds: Winner’s weight throw; graduate student Brayden Jackson in the men’s pole vault with a jump of 5.33 meters and a new meet standard; the men’s distance medley relay (DMR) quartet of sophomore Wes Taylor, senior Joe Wahl and juniors Colon Thress and Zach Vales with a time of 9:52.97; the women’s DMR quartet of senior Emilie Lemon, sophomore Olivia Saylor and seniors Jade Avance and Hope Sievert with a time of 11:30.60 and junior Hailey Rios won the women’s long jump, jumping 5.89 meters.  

Junior Kara Fields placed second in the women’s pentathlon with 3,502 points, earning a new provo mark for nationals in the process. Freshman Connor Petrus also earned a new provo mark and placed second but in the men’s long jump, jumping 7.28 meters.  

Also earning a medal on night one with senior Braeden Geist in the men’s 5,000 meter run with a time of 14:31.15.  

On day two, the Eagles won eight events, which contributed to their championship trophy.  

As mentioned earlier, Winner won the women’s shot put. 

Other golds for the Eagles included junior Odessa Smith in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.54 seconds, Thress in the men’s 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.97, Avance in the women’s800-meter run with a time of 2:08.05 and the women’s 4×400-meter relay squad of sophomore Brianna Chenevey, Saylor, junior Jordan Rosales and Avance with a time of 3:45.72. 

Not just gold contributed to the wins though.  

Chenevey placed second in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 55.47, improving her provo mark as well. Sievert placed second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.37. The men’s 4×400-meter relay quartet of Wahl, junior Brian Turner, junior Dominick Brister and Thress placed second to Cedarville University with a time of 3:12.15. 

The following Eagles placed third in their respective events: freshman Vivian Walter in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.68; junior Abigail Hartzler in the women’s high jump, jumping 1.65 meters; Sievert in the women’s mile with a time of 5:00.34; junior Christian Seibert in the men’s triple jump, jumping 14.59 meters; Rosales in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.30 and Brister in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 21.50.  

The Eagles now look to the 2026 NCAA Division II Championships, and those competing will be announced on March 3 on NCAA.com.