ROCHESTER, MI — The Wright State track and field programs tallied a pair of podium finishes on Friday, a slow first day for the Raiders at the 2024 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with Alex McCarty and Alicia Neumeier each finishing fifth in their respective 10,000m races to cap the opening day.
 
Saturday action will pick up the pace with Raider entrees, with 12 track prelim races scheduled, along with several field events and the completion of the Heptathlon. Wright State's Abbey Puckett and Melissa Siler competed in four Heptathlon events on Friday, while 11 total Raiders ran in the men's and women's 1,500m prelims, with Noah Sharp qualifying for Sunday's final.
 
Day Two
When: Saturday, May 4
Where: Rochester, Michigan | Elaine Leigh Track & Field Complex
Championship Central (with meet schedule): Link
Live Results: Link
ESPN+ (starts 2:45 p.m.): Link
  
McCarty gave the Raiders their first podium finish of the weekend with his fifth-place finish in the men's 10,000m run, turning in a time of 30:20.56 before Neumeier followed that up with a fifth-place showing of her own, clocking a 36:23.86 mark in the women's contest, as both Raiders earned four points for Wright State's team tally.
 
Sharp qualified for Sunday's 1,500m final with his 3:53.88 mark, the fourth-fasted time in the men's prelims and just 0.65 seconds off the top qualifying mark. Teammates Preston Jackson and Kalib Tolle were the next-closest Raiders from qualifying, with both about four seconds behind the qualifying mark on the men's side. The Raider women had seven entrants in the women's 1,500m race, with Alycea Lemmon, Anna Johnson and Reece Barnitz all finishing with in one second of each other at just over five minutes, but outside the qualifying time mark.
 
Puckett and Siler competed in four Heptathlon events Friday – the 100m hurdles, the 200m race, the high jump and the shot put. Siler's 1.51m clearance in the high jump gave her sixth in the event, the top mark for either Raider in the four events on the day, while she added an eighth-place finish with a 9.70m mark in the shot put, was 10th in the hurdles and was 13th in the 200m race. Puckett finished 10th in the hurdles, 11th in both the 200m and high jump, and was 13th in the shot put.
 
Saturday's full slate gets underway at 9:30 a.m. with the final events of the Heptathlon and continues at noon with field events before full afternoon on the track beginning at 3 p.m. running into the night.