WACO, Texas – Sarah Maggio (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) won the steeplechase and Precious Umukoro (Villarreal, Spain) earned a top-five conference mark in the triple jump as the Northern Illinois University women's track and field team competed at Baylor's Michael Johnson Invitational this weekend. 

Umukoro finished fourth in the triple jump with a new personal-best mark of 12.52 meters (41-01.00) on her third attempt of the competition. Her mark is the fifth-best in the Mid-American Conference this season and just outside the top-100 nationally. Aniya Barton (Lansing, Ill./Thornton Fractional South) also posted a top-20 mark in the conference this spring with a leap of 11.67 meters (38-03.50), finishing 13th.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Maggio earned top honors running a time of 11:09.84, winning by nearly eight seconds ahead of Abilene Christian's Saylor Stevenson (11:17.82). 

Jasmijn Raes (Amsterdam, Netherlands) who came into the weekend having won three consecutive high jump titles at Illinois State, Texas and Florida, finished second in the high jump, clearing 1.70 meters (5-07.00), behind only 2021 American Olympian Rachel McCoy

Amelie Ojeda (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) was third in the 5,000 meters, running a time of 17:19.00, while Claire Helmila (Greenville, Wis./Freedom) ran a time of 2:14.27, to finish ninth in the 800, a top-30 mark in the conference this spring. 

In the javelin, G'Nea Pitt (Spanish Town, Jamaica) earned an eighth-place finish with a mark of 36.52 meters (119-09). 

NIU has one regular season meet remaining as it competes at home in the Huskie Classic at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex in DeKalb on Friday, May 8. 

100-meter Dash
32. Precious Akinsanya, 12.12
35. Esther Momalife, 12.19
46. Brooke Jordan, 12.71
47. Mariah Gonzalez, 12.87

100-meter Hurdles
28. Brooke Jordan, 14.88

200-meter Dash
35. Natasha Chetty, 24.86
42. Precious Akinsanya, 25.00
51. Esther Momalife, 25.23

400-meter Dash
30. Roshell Rowe, 57.87
31. Natasha Chetty, 57.99

400-meter Hurdles
24. Sanaii Vaughn, 1:08.13

800-meter Run
9. Claire Helmila, 2:14.27
14. Emma Curry, 2:15.84

3000-meter Steeplechase
1. Sarah Maggio, 11:09.84

5,000-meter Run
3. Amelie Ojeda, 17:19.00

High Jump
2. Jasmijn Raes, 1.70m (5-07.00)

Javelin
8. G'Nea Pitt, 36.52m (119-09)

Long Jump
10. Previous Umukoro, 5.67m (18-07.25)
17. Kaiya Key, 5.39m (17-08.25)
19. Tod'Jai Ross, 5.27m (17-03.50)

Triple Jump
4. Precious Umukoro, 12.52m (41-01.00)
13. Aniya Barton, 11.67m (38-03.50)