By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Both the Sycamore men's and women's track and field squads sit in third place overall following the first day of competition at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships at the UNI-Dome on Saturday.
The Southern Illinois men and Wichita State women currently hold leads in the team scores through five scored events. On the men's side, the Sycamores hold 31 total points behind SIU's 60 and Wichita's 46.50. Conversely, the Sycamore women have 28 points behind Wichita's 44 and Northern Iowa's 33.
Indiana State won two conference titles on Saturday, the first coming from senior pole vaulter and Terre Haute native Connor Curley.
After sitting out the first few bars, Curley came in and proceeded to put on a clinic, not missing a bar until the competition was already wrapped up. Curley was clean over 5.01m (16-05.25), 5.11m (16-09.25) and his title-winning clearance of 5.21m (17-01.00) before missing at a potential-PR height of 5.31m. He then passed to try for a new school record at 5.41m (17-09.00), at which he took three solid attempts.
This is Curley's first-career MVC title, as well as pole vault coach Jeff Martin's second men's title indoors in the last three years following Byron Ferrell's victory in 2014.
ISU's second and final title on the day came from yet another superb outing from the Sycamore women's distance medley relay. The same crew that set Indiana State's school record at Notre Dame earlier this month – sophomore Brittany Neeley (1200), freshman Ahmanah Woods (400), Aleksey Green (800) and Jessi Conley (mile) – came close to that time again at 11:47.67, beating out a late-charging Drake (11:48.31) by less than a second.
For the Sycamore women, tonight's win in the DMR is the first from Indiana State in nearly a decade – the last coming in the 2007 season.
The men's DMR also came to work on Saturday, finishing as the runner-up to Loyola (10:00.01) by two seconds at a monster season-best 10:02.57. The crew of Blake Kramer (1200), Tyrell Dowdell (400), Tony Rigoni (800) and David Timlin (mile) hung in the fight the whole way, but Timlin's incredible mile split of 4:09 brought ISU from a third or fourth place finish to its second place finish and All-MVC honors for the quartet.
Junior Devyn Mikell had a superb day in the long jump for the Sycamore men, but an astronomical effort out of Wichita State freshman Jared Belardo (7.86m/25-09.50) forced Mikell – the defending indoor long jump champion – to a runner-up finish for All-MVC honors. Mikell hit a very solid season-best of 7.54m (24-09.00), as well as an opening leap of 7.50m that would have also been a season-best. Mikell's efforts, coupled with sophomore Scott Schreiber's fourth-place finish at 7.27m (23-10.25), gave the ISU men's team 13 points.
Also earning All-MVC honors was sophomore Taylor Austin in the 5,000 meter race, where she was in the thick of things behind All-American twins Kristen and Caitlin Busch, who both ran 16:42.68 to go 1-2 in the event. Austin broke Indiana State's all-time 5K record by three seconds with her time of 16:49.84, breaking her previous PR by 11 seconds and breaking Nicole Lucas' school record set in 2015.
The Sycamore women also gained a surplus of points in the weight throw. ISU went 5-6-8 for eight meet points, led by senior Katelyn Rutz, who finished fifth at a season-best toss of 19.32m (63-04.75). Sophomore Jasmine Noel finished right behind her at a career-best heave of 18.00m (59-00.75), which moves her from 10th to ninth all-time in school history. Freshman Cassaundra Roper also set a new PR in eighth place at 17.33m (56-10.25).
Senior long jumper Kaisha Martin was ISU's final scorer of the evening, finishing tied for fifth in the women's long jump at an indoor PR leap of 5.80m (19-00.50).
Indiana State also set itself up for some success on the track on Day Two. The Sycamore men pushed four through to the finals of the men's 60-meter hurdles, as ISU went 1-2-4-8 in prelims. Senior All-American and Indianapolis native Adarius Washington had the top time in prelims at 7.89 seconds, followed closely in second by teammate Marcus Neely at 7.92. Junior Daley Carter – last year's third-place finisher in the hurdles – had the fourth-best time at a season-best 7.97, while Jacob Wright took the final qualifying spot in eighth at 8.18. If ISU finishes in that order in the final, the Sycamores would come away with 24 points from the hurdles alone.
On the other side of the hurdles, sophomore Patrycja Dziekonska took the eighth and final qualifying spot in the women's 60-meter hurdles after running 8.73 seconds.
The Sycamore men set itself up for a potentially nice day in the mile tomorrow, with both All-American David Timlin and freshman Quentin Pierce making it through to the next round. It was a tight bunch that got in, as Timlin won the prelim round at 4:15.19 and Pierce took the second-to-last slot in ninth at 4:16.45.
Before she was a part of the winning DMR squad, Brittany Neeley punched her ticket for the mile finals as well. Neeley ran the third-fastest prelim time at 4:59.80. Her career-best, 4:51.09, is within less than one second of ISU's all-time record of 4:50.12, held by interim director of athletics, Angie Lansing.
It was a bizarre scene in the men's 60 meter dash, as the Sycamores qualified two to the finals but had to go through a peculiar scenario to break a tie for the final slot. Tristan Parmley was safe after finishing sixth at 6.88 seconds, but both Scott Schreiber and Jaynard Keys ran 6.89, and were still tied when broken down to the thousandths. Per NCAA rules, either a run-off can be performed or a one-off game of probability – such as flipping a coin or choosing numbers out of a hat – must be performed.
Keys won the slot after pulling numbers from a hat, adding to his other qualifying spot in tomorrow's 200-meter dash following a seventh-place prelim finish at an indoor PR time of 21.95.
Day Two competition will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET with the women's triple jump and men's high jump. Beginning at 2 p.m. ET, fans can watch the action live on ESPN3 HERE.
Men's Team Scores:
1. Southern Illinois – 60
2. Wichita State – 46.50
3. Indiana State – 31
4. Illinois State – 19
5. Northern Iowa – 14.50
6. Loyola – 10
7. Drake – 9
8. Bradley - 5
Women's Team Scores:
1. Wichita State – 44
2. Northern Iowa – 33
3. Indiana State – 28
4. Illinois State – 21
5. Bradley – 20
6. Missouri State – 13
6. Drake – 13
8. Southern Illinois – 12
9. Loyola – 11
Day One Champions:
Connor Curley – Pole Vault
Brittany Neeley, Ahmanah Woods, Aleksey Green, Jessi Conley – Distance Medley Relay
Day One All-MVC:
Connor Curley – Pole Vault, First Place
Brittany Neeley, Ahmanah Woods, Aleksey Green, Jessi Conley – Distance Medley Relay, First Place
Devyn Mikell – Long Jump, Second Place
Blake Kramer, Tyrell Dowdell, Tony Rigoni, David Timlin – Distance Medley Relay, Second Place
Taylor Austin – 5,000 Meter, Third Place
Other Day One Scorers:
Katelyn Rutz – Weight Throw, Fifth Place
Kaisha Martin – Long Jump, T-Fifth Place
Jasmine Noel – Weight Throw, Sixth Place
Cassaundra Roper – Weight Throw, Eighth Place
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.
