Sophomore Neva Polo and junior Allison Nimtz were the only athletes on the women’s track and field team to compete last weekend, both participating in the heptathlon at Muskingum University April 7. Polo and Nimtz took second and third in the event overall, scoring 644 and 634, respectively.

“They were solid,” head coach R.P. White said. “It’s not the point in the year where you’re firing on all eight cylinders, but to come away with a performance that’s just solid when you’re still in the thick of heavy training, I thought it was really good.”

The heptathlon at Muskingum was Nimtz’s first-ever time competing in the event.

“It was fun to compete in my first heptathlon, and even though my marks weren’t what I was hoping for, it was great to experience putting all seven events together,” Nimtz said.

According to White, the recent outdoor meets have not included multi-events like the heptathlon and the decathlon. 

“It’s been kind of wonky how a lot of the meets, they’re not hosting multis,” White said. “It was appropriate that they went this weekend. When you do that event, it kinda beats your body up a little bit, so just to give them ample rest coming out of it.”

The heptathlon included seven events: 100 meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meter dash, long jump, javelin, and 800 meter run. Multi-event scoring is calculated using a cumulative point system, since the events are individually scored in different ways.

“One of the challenges with the heptathlon or decathlon is shaking off a bad performance in one event to get a clear head for the next one,” Nimtz said. “I’m happy with my mentality, and being able to stay calm and positive during the event.”

Polo and Nimtz both did well in the shot put, taking second and third in that event with throws of 10.02 meters and 9.98 meters, respectively. In long jump, Polo and Nimtz took second and third, jumping 5.06 meters and 4.95 meters, respectively. Polo took first place in javelin, throwing 30.88 meters.

“I think Neva would agree with me that the meet didn’t go how she wanted it to, but she kept a really clear head and threw a personal record in javelin on day two, as well as putting up a good long jump mark,” Nimtz said. “The next time we’ll compete in the heptathlon will be at the conference championships, and I hope to be able to use the experience I got competing this weekend to put together some marks I’ll be proud of.”

Next weekend, the track and field team will compete at the Tiffin Extravaganza in Ohio and the Bison Outdoor Classic in Pennsylvania. Both meets will be April 14-15.