DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's track and field team heads to Ypsilanti, Mich., this weekend to compete in the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships at Bowen Field House. The two-day championship begins on Friday, Feb. 28 and will continue on Saturday, March 1.
Competition begins at 9:30 a.m. CT on Friday with the 60-meter dash in the heptathlon. On Saturday, competition will resume at 9 a.m. CT with the shot put.
Among the events to watch for NIU this weekend is the high jump, where the Huskies have three athletes ranked in the top four in the conference and four in the top 20.
Kamiya Dendy (Anderson, S.C./Pendleton) enters the meet tied for first in the MAC with a top height of 1.77 meters (5-09.75), which is also tied for the second-best mark in program history. She has won the high jump competition each of the past two weekends at the John Gartland Invitational and the GVSU Big Meet.
Jasmijn Raes (Amsterdam, Netherlands) has won three high jump titles this season and is ranked third coming into the conference meet.
Arianna Calloway (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) is tied for fourth in the MAC in the high jump and finished second in last year's MAC Indoor Championships while
Samira Rosenfeld (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) is ranked 17th in the MAC.
As a group, the Huskie high jumpers are currently ranked eighth nationally with a combined total height of 6.96m (22-10). The high jump competition will take place on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
Precious Umukoro (Villarreal, Spain) is ranked third in the MAC in the long jump, which will take place on Friday at 11:30 a.m. CT. Umukoro's top mark this season of 5.95 meters (19-06.25) won the title at Notre Dame's Blue & Gold Invitational. Umukoro is also ranked seventh heading into Saturday's triple jump competition.
Xiomara Malone (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek) will also compete in the long jump while
Aniya Barton (Lansing, Ill./Thornton Fractional South) will take part in the triple jump.
On the track,
Sadiya Shamsid-Deen (McDonough, Ga./Sprayberry) comes into the meet ranked 10th in the 400 meters with a top time this season of 55.61 seconds.
Roshell Rowe (Manchester, N.J./Manchester) is ranked 15th in the 400. The prelims for the 400 meters are set for 1:45 p.m. CT on Friday with Saturday's final slated for 1:20 p.m. CT.
Esther Momalife (Lagos, Nigeria) will make her MAC Championship debut in the 200 meters while Rosenfeld will compete in Friday's pentathlon competition.
