By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Both the Indiana State men's and women's milers put on a spectacular show at the final day of the Meyo Invite on Saturday at the University of Notre Dame.

Junior All-American David Timlin was the toast of the track crowd watching at the Loftus Sports Center on Saturday, where he and nine others put on a great show during the men's Meyo Mile race. Timlin came away the victor in an exhilarating rush to the finish, breaking his own school record at 4:00.42 – just barely missing out on joining the sub-4:00 club again and beating out Michigan's Mason Ferlic (4:00.50) by less than a tenth at the finish.

Timlin took a decent lead after the first lap, but was left alone around the 1200 meter mark before the pack started to make its push on the final lap. Ferlic had taken the lead on the bell lap, but Timlin – who exploded for a 59-second split on his final 400 – snatched away the lead from Ferlic at the finish line.

“Last lap I was feeling really good going into it and started moving,” Timlin said. “Mason Ferlic came around me with probably 240 meters to go. Most times when someone passes you, they blow you away and there's nothing you can do. But once he got in front of me, he was running about the same pace as me so I waited. At the homestretch I waited a little bit more and beat him at the line by less than a tenth of a second.”

“It's just been a countdown to when he could get into a real good race, and fortunately he really produced,” said ISU men's head coach John McNichols. “Unfortunately, the field didn't really go with him when they should have and that would have made it a little faster.”

Despite his already incredible credentials gathered during his first three seasons at Indiana State, Timlin was still seen by some as an underdog due to ISU's mid-major status. Post-race, Timlin was not mincing words:

“I had the second-best 1500 PR in the field,” Timlin said. “I earned that confidence. It was understood.”

“Can't say enough about his effort,” McNichols said. “He's a guy that's been around and already done great things, but hopefully this will get him some more recognition.”

Today's race is the logical next step for the junior native of Chicago, who already posted the second-best 3K in school history at IU two weeks ago at 8:08.66.

“It's nice to be hitting these times because we aren't doing a lot of specific work for it,” Timlin said. “We aren't focusing on the races. This week we did do a little more prep work than usual, but in general my training right now is based on getting fitter and stronger. It's awesome to be hitting these PRs when I'm doing normal training. It's encouraging and proof that all the work that I put in during cross is paying off. I'm excited.”

The women's milers also had themselves an impressive day. Within 10 minutes of each other, both Jessi Conley (4:53.37) and Brittany Neeley (4:43.70) ran what was then the second-fastest mile times in school history. Neeley, a sophomore IU transfer, was up first, and finished second in her heat for what was then the No. 2 mile time in ISU history. Conley followed that up with a solid eighth-place finish in her heat to bump Neeley down to third.

This season alone (and with this weekend taken into account), assistant coach Kyle Walsh's crew has led an assault on the indoor record book. In the mile alone, Walsh's active Sycamores own spots two-through-four on the all-time list – trailing only interim director of athletics Angie Lansing's 4:50.12 from 1998. Freshman Brooke Moore, who did not compete this weekend, owns the other in fourth place at 4:57.07. Moore also ranks ninth all-time in the 3K (9:57.49) and last night Taylor Austin ran the third-best 5K (17:00.90).

In the hurdles, the Sycamores were without All-American Adarius Washington, who sat out today following a slight tweak during warmups as a cautionary action. Junior Marcus Neely picked up the slack though, making finals on a 7.96 semifinal time before finishing fourth overall at 8.02. In the last two weeks now, Neely has run sub-8.00 four times after never having done so before.

Elsewhere, there were several other strong performances out of the Sycamores.

Sophomore high jumper Jamie Murtaugh had a career-day, getting over the bar at 2.12m (6-11.50) and finishing fourth overall. Murtaugh now ranks tied for 10th all-time at ISU, which shouldn't last long; he took three very good attempts at 2.15m (7-00.50).

Likewise in the men's pole vault, senior Terre Haute native Connor Curley posted another solid week, finishing third at 5.17m (16-11.50). Just last week that would have tied an overall career-best, but last week at UNI he cleared an incredible 5.30m (17-04.50) to take the lead in the MVC by nearly a half-foot.

It was also a good day for the women's shot putters, an impressive feat considering the field they were competing in against the current world-leader, Raven Saunders of Ole Miss.

Redshirt freshman Cassaundra Roper continued her hot streak with another PR at 15.46m (50-08.75) for fifth place, which launches her from 10th all-time to fourth on ISU's illustrious list behind All-Americans Felisha Johnson, Mary Theisen and Christy Barrett. Also making finals were Katelyn Rutz (seventh, 15.30m/50-02.50, fifth all-time) and Whitney Walker (ninth, 15.06m/49-05.00, season-best).

Senior and former football tight end Jamar Brown also made finals in the shot at 17.28m (56-08.50). Other strong performances included Jamie Newsome in the triple jump (12.42m/40-09.00) and Tyrell Dowdell in the 400 meter (48.37 seconds, ninth all-time at ISU).

“We had a couple breakthroughs,” McNichols said. “One was (Marcus) Neely making an elite final in the hurdles and he ran well in each round to make it in. Also, Jamie Murtaugh did so in the high jump and he had some good attempts at even higher bars as well, so I think that's going very well. Connor did a nice job again in the vault, and Jamar made the final in the shot. A lot of good things happened for us, but – and I sound like a broken record – we still have a long ways to go before the conference meet.”

“We had a solid meet,” said ISU women's head coach Angela Martin. “The competition was at a very high level, so it was nice to see a few of our women step up, and now we have three good weeks to continue to get better.”

Indiana State returns to IU next weekend for the Hoosier Hills Invite on Fri., Feb. 12.

For the latest information on the Sycamore Track and Field team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.