MTU runners clock personal-bests at TN meet

Photo courtesy of MTU
Michigan Tech runner Sam Lange (8) competes in the 1500-meter run on Saturday at the Lee Last Chance Meet in Cleveland, Tennessee.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Michigan Tech middle distance runners Sam Lange (1,500m) and John Paul Norland (800m) ran personal-bests at the Lee Last Chance Meet in Cleveland, Tennessee, Saturday to conclude the three meet week for the Huskies.

Norland took to the track first, completing the first lap in 54.65 in eighth-place before closing hard in the second lap to dip under the NCAA Provisional qualifying standard with his time of 1:51.06, good for 14th overall. The Houghton, Michigan, native caps an impressive outdoor campaign with the 52nd-fastest 800m time in Division II.

Sam Lange took to the track in the evening with intentions of running a time fast enough to extend his season by two weeks. The Washington, Illinois, native worked up throughout the race, moving up two spots in the second lap following a sub 60 second clip. He closed in 59.08 for his final lap to kick down five runners and take fourth-place in a new personal-best time of 3:45.01, which currently resides as the 22nd-best time in Division II.

His new personal-best is over a second faster than his previous record set at last year’s last chance meet in Joliet, Illinois and the second-fastest time in school history behind Clayton Sayen’s school record time of 3:43.84 set in the preliminary round of the NCAA Championships 1,500m in May of 2022.

“I was really proud of the way Sam and John Paul competed down here in Tennessee,” head coach Robert Young said. “Both found themselves in really strong fields and took advantage of the opportunity. John Paul showed that his breakthrough from last week was no fluke by notching his first-ever Provo mark. That event is very deep, so he won’t make the national meet this year but look out for him next spring! Sam’s mark puts him right on the bubble for being accepted to the national meet. He absolutely left everything he had on the track today to get there and now we just have to patiently wait until Tuesday to find out if he’s in or not.

“Mady VanWieren had a well-earned breakthrough to close out her career in the 1500m. She’s worked hard and raced consistently over the last two years so it’s really great to see her go out with a breakthrough best.”

“Sophia Rhein put an exclamation point on the end of a great freshmen year with two great races in two days. She will be one to watch next year and it looks like some special things are on the horizon.”The Huskies opened the last chance week with Landon Cosby and Max Messina competing at Hillsdale on Wednesday.

Cosby took seventh in the men’s pole vault, clearing 15-5.5. Messina took 10th in the men’s discus with his throw of 130-5 (39.76m)

Mady VanWieren and Sophia Rhein had lifetime-best races at the Fighting Chance Invite on May 10-11 in Joliet, Illinois.

VanWieren smashed her personal-best in the 1,500m, taking almost five seconds off the personal-best she set in the preliminary round of the GLIAC Championships, capping off her career as a Husky, taking eighth-place in a new PR of 4:40.78.

Jamie Hendrickson competed in the women’s high jump and bowed out after clearing 5-1 on a day where only two jumpers cleared over 5-3.

Landon Cosby had his best vault performance of late, clearing 15-11 for the third time this season. He passed on 4.90m before failing to get over 4.95m.

Up Next

The Huskies will await to see if Lange’s 1,500m performance was enough to make the NCAA Championships. A list of qualifiers will be released at some point Tuesday.