Ball State readies for Michigan Invitational

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State track and field team is set to compete at the Michigan Invitational Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. at the U-M Indoor Track Building. Field events are slated to begin at 11 a.m. ET, while the track events start at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Michigan is set to offer a free live stream of the meet: http://sidearmstats.com/umichigan/track/live-video-track-20220122.html. For fans attending, face masks must be worn at all times during the meet.

The Cardinals are coming off a successful showing at the Jim Green Invitational where two indoor program records were broken. Charity Griffith set the record in the high jump after clearing 6-0 1/2, which broke Regan Lewis' mark of 5-11 1/4 (2017), while MaQuila Norman set the 300m record at 39.60, besting Yvonne Ferguson's time of 39.61 (2005).

"It was very exciting," Norman said of breaking the record. "At first, I didn't know that I broke the record. I thought the time was different, but I was still very positive and told myself, 'That was a great race.' When my name popped up and it showed 39.60, I thought, 'I think I just broke the school record.' It was very exciting. I was very positive the whole time and I was just ready for it."

"I was super pumped and excited," Griffith added. "I loved all of the support from my teammates. I knew that I got a mark that was good to go to nationals, but I'm not finished there. I'm excited to keep clearing higher heights."

For both of the new record holders, last weekend's performances were highlighted by the culture and support of their teammates.

"We always show up for each other," Norman stated. "For every single thing that is surrounding this team, it's very positive. We make sure we run around and cheer each other on every step of the way. We make sure we give each other encouraging words at practice and outside of practice. That's how we have a strong bond as well."

"My teammates were there from the beginning," Griffith said. "The high jump was the only event going on, so it was nice to have the entire team there. I just kept clearing height after height, and everyone started to get more excited. It was really exciting to see how supportive the team was when I cleared that height."

Following the Michigan Invitational, Ball State returns to the track Jan. 28 for its home indoor meet inside the Field Sports Building.

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Players Mentioned

Charity Griffith

MaQuila Norman