CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Five Sycamore women's distance runners earned All-MVC honors while 17 others qualified for finals events to be run on Sunday after a productive Day One of the 2017 MVC Indoor Championships on Saturday.
 
The Sycamore women are currently tied with Southern Illinois in fourth place with 21 points, trailing Wichita State (60), Northern Iowa (29) and Illinois State (27). The Sycamore men are in a similar logjam in the middle of the pack, sitting in sixth at 22 points behind Southern Illinois (40), Wichita State (37), Illinois State (25), Bradley (25) and Northern Iowa (25).
 
Indiana State's biggest performance of the night came at the tail end of Day One as the ESPN3 cameras were rolling with junior Taylor Austin's All-MVC finish in the 5,000-meter race. Austin, who finished third in the same event last year indoors, finished third again, this time at 17:08.58 seconds.
 
This is the fourth overall All-MVC honor for Austin during the track seasons when including her 2016 MVC Outdoor title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and her 2015 third-place finish in the same event. Austin was also an All-MVC finisher at the 2015 MVC Cross Country Championships, where she finished 10th overall.
 
That wasn't all for the Sycamore women, as four members of ISU's women's distance medley relay team also finished third for All-Conference honors. Taylor Rogers (1200 meters), Ahmanah Woods (400 meters), Aleksey Green (800 meters) and Abigail Grider (mile) ran 12:04.92 for the All-MVC distinction – the second-straight for Woods and Green, who were members of ISU's championship DMR team in 2016.
 
The men's DMR of Blake Kramer (1200), CJ Anyaebunam (400), Isaac Bentz (800) and Quentin Pierce (mile) also scored high with a fourth-place finish at 10:16.30.
 
The Sycamores had seven additional event scorers in finals events in the field on Day One. Chief among them was sophomore transfer Caitlyn Redmon, who finished fourth in an incredible women's long jump competition. Redmon leapt a new career-best 5.92m (19-05.25), the eighth-best jump in Indiana State history. But Redmon fell unlucky with the quality of the field this season, as there were six total over 19 feet and two past the 20-foot plateau (there were zero 20-foot female jumpers at the MVC Indoor meet in 2016).
 
Senior Devyn Mikell had a similar experience in what turned out to be a very good men's long jump as well, finishing fifth at 7.24m (23-09.00).
 
The Sycamore weight throwers came ready to compete on Day One, pushing four through to the finals with three of them scoring. In the men's edition, Ryan Chestnut led the way in fourth place at a season-best 18.29m (60-00.25) – just one inch shy of the podium and All-MVC honors in third place. Junior transfer Hunter Schuman hit a new PR in the weight for the second-straight week in sixth place at 18.01m (59-01.25). Sophomore Sam Overton also made the final, finishing ninth at 16.19m (53-01.50).
 
Sophomore Cassaundra Roper represented Indiana State well in the women's weight throw, finishing fifth at 17.52m (57-05.75) – a near season-best.
 
Two Sycamores also scored in the men's pole vault: sophomore Riley Smith in sixth place and junior transfer Trey Kennedy in seventh place, both at 4.77m (15-07.75).
 
Most importantly, the Sycamores had a stellar day on the track in qualifying for finals events on Day Two.
 
The most potentially lucrative event for the Sycamores on Sunday will be both editions of the 60-meter hurdles. The Sycamores qualified two in the men's races and were able to send through three on the women's side.
 
Seniors Marcus Neely and Daley Carter easily won their heats, running 7.92 and 7.94 respectively. But, UNI's Jon Rus added some drama to the ensuing final by blowing everyone out of the water with the top qualifying time of 7.78, the 15th-best in the NCAA this year. Neely was the runner-up in 2016 and Carter the runner-up in 2015, but Indiana State has not gone through an indoor season without taking at least the top-two spots in the men's hurdles since 2012. ISU is looking to be the first school to win five-straight men's titles since the Sycamores did so from 1996-2001.
 
The women's hurdles were just as exciting, with the top time coming courtesy of a new conference record by Wichita State's Taylor Larch-Miller at 8.21. However, ISU's own Ayanna Morgan had a tremendous career performance, running the fifth-best prelim time at 8.53 seconds. Morgan, who just three weeks ago did not rank on the all-time top-10 and had never run sub-8.9, is now tied with teammate Patrycja Dziekonska for third all-time in school history. In the last two weeks, Morgan has now topped out at both 8.68 and 8.53.
 
Dziekonska took the sixth qualifying spot at 8.60 seconds, and the final slot in tomorrow's final went to Micaela McLean at 8.70 seconds.
 
The Sycamore distance runners took care of business as well. Sophomore star and MVC mile leader Brooke Moore punched her ticket to tomorrow's mile final as an automatic qualifier at 5:02.34. Moore broke a 19-year-old school-record in the mile earlier this year, running 4:43.04.
 
Sophomore Quentin Pierce and David Timlin also punched their tickets to the mile final for the second straight season as a tandem. Pierce ran the fastest prelim at 4:17.60, while Timlin took an automatic qualifier spot at 4:24.16.
 
Timlin also qualified in the 800-meter, stealing the final spot by .29 seconds at 1:54.63. The Sycamore women will send two to the 800-meter finals themselves, with All-American Alethia Marrero earning an automatic qualifier spot at 2:18.40 and freshman Imani Davis snagging one of the at-large spots at 2:14.29.
 
The Sycamores will also have two representatives in the men's and women's 400-meter dashes. Junior Oschtisha Jackson ran the third-fastest prelim of the day at 56.05 to qualify, while Tyrell Dowdell snared the seventh spot in the men's race at 49.29.
 
Freshman Shana Cooper will pull double-duty tomorrow after qualifying in both the 60-meter dash (seventh, 7.61) and 200-meter dash (seventh, 25.10).
 
The Sycamores nearly snuck two into the men's 200-meter dash finals, with Jaynard Keys beating out teammate Tristan Parmley by one-hundredth of a second at 22.09 to Parmley's 22.10 for the final qualifying spot. Parmley will still be in action on Sunday, though, as he ran the fourth-best prelim in the 60-meter dash at 6.88 – which ties his career-best.
 
Indiana State also had two in action in the men's heptathlon: Joshua Perry (11th, 2,561) and Michael Boger (12th, 2,488) will wrap up with three more events on Sunday.
 
Action will resume at the UNI-Dome at 10:30 a.m. ET with the resumption of the heptathlon. The women's triple jump and men's high jump will kick off the field events at 12 p.m. ET, with the action on the track resuming at 2:25 p.m. ET. Fans can watch live on ESPN3/WatchESPN, starting at 2:15 p.m. ET.
 
Men's Team Scores (Through Five Events):
1. Southern Illinois – 40
2. Wichita State – 37
3. Illinois State – 25
3. Bradley – 25
3. Northern Iowa – 25
6. Indiana State – 22
7. Drake – 12
8. Loyola – 9
 
Women's Team Scores (Through Five Events):
1. Wichita State – 60
2. Northern Iowa – 29
3. Illinois State – 27
4. Indiana State – 21
4. Southern Illinois – 21
6. Missouri State – 13
7. Bradley – 12
8. Loyola – 7
9. Drake – 5
 
Finals Qualifiers:
Daley Carter – 60-Meter Hurdles
Shana Cooper – 60-Meter Dash
Shana Cooper – 200-Meter Dash
Imani Davis – 800-Meters
Tyrell Dowdell – 400-Meter Dash
Patrycja Dziekonska – 60-Meter Hurdles
Oschtisha Jackson – 400-Meter Dash
Jaynard Keys – 200-Meter Dash
Alethia Marrero – 800-Meters
Micaela McLean – 60-Meter Hurdles
Brooke Moore – Mile
Ayanna Morgan – 60-Meter Hurdles
Marcus Neely – 60-Meter Hurdles
Tristan Parmley – 60-Meter Dash
Quentin Pierce – Mile
David Timlin – 800-Meters
David Timlin - Mile
 
Day One All-MVC:
Taylor Austin – 5,000-Meters, 3rd Place
Taylor Rogers, Ahmanah Woods, Aleksey Green, Abigail Grider – Distance Medley Relay, 3rd Place
 
Other Day One Scorers:
Ryan Chestnut – Weight Throw, 4th Place
Caitlyn Redmon – Long Jump, 4th Place
Blake Kramer, CJ Anyaebunam, Isaac Bentz, Quentin Pierce – Distance Medley Relay, 4th Place
Devyn Mikell – Long Jump, 5th Place
Cassaundra Roper – Weight Throw, 5th Place
Hunter Schuman – Weight Throw, 6th Place
Riley Smith – Pole Vault, 6th Place
Trey Kennedy – Pole Vault, 7th 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.