LEXINGTON, Ky. – Indiana State will send nine student-athletes to the NCAA East Region Preliminary Round Championships this week at the University of Kentucky in the hopes of punching a ticket to the national meet at the University of Oregon in June.
To qualify for this first-round of the NCAA Championships, student-athletes must have finished the season ranked within the top-48 of their individual events or as a member of a top-24 relay team on their respective regional qualifying list (East or West), which was released by the NCAA last week. The top-12 athletes in the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon in the East and West automatically receive entry to the national meet.
From there, the top-12 finalists in each event at each regional meet advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon on June 7-10.
Thursday, May 25
5:30 p.m. –
Brooke Moore – Women's 1500-Meter First Round (Heat 3)
6:00 p.m. –
David Timlin – Men's 1500-Meter First Round (Heat 4)
6:55 p.m. –
Tristan Parmley – Men's 100-Meter Dash First Round (Heat 6, Lane 6)
8:10 p.m. –
Alethia Marrero – Women's 800-Meter First Round (Heat 4, Lane 5)
9:40 p.m. –
Akis Medrano – Men's 10,000-Meter Semifinal
Sophomore star
Brooke Moore will kick things off for the Sycamores on Thursday evening as she looks to continue her incredible second season with ISU in the first round of the 1500-meter.
Moore – a native of Elkhart, Ind. – has had a tremendous 2017 season, beginning with a third-place All-MVC finish at the MVC Cross Country Championships in November, the best finish by a Sycamore since 2010 (Allison Malone, runner-up). Moore kept the pedal down through the indoor season – finishing All-MVC as the runner-up in the mile while smashing school records in the mile (4:43.04) and 3K (9:35.60) along the way.
She rewrote the record book again outdoors, breaking another long-standing record by seven seconds yet again – this time in the 1500 at 4:20.02, which qualified her for the regional meet as the 20th-best entry. Moore also won the MVC outdoor 1500 title (her first career MVC win) and was the runner-up narrowly in the 800. She was originally qualified in both the 800 and the 1500, but will focus on the 1500 in Heat Three on Thursday.
Senior All-American
David Timlin will follow Moore at 6 p.m. in the men's edition of the 1500-meter, an event he is very familiar with at the East Regional. Timlin, a Chicago native, has now qualified for the regional meet in the 1500 all four years of his Sycamore career, advancing into the quarterfinals three times and punching his ticket to Eugene twice in 2015 and 2016 – where he has finished 14th both years for Second-Team All-American honors.
Timlin broke his own ISU record in the 1500 at the national championships last season at 3:41.35, and he came close to topping that this season with his qualifying time of 3:42.93 (13th in the East). Most impressive about Timlin's qualifying time this season is the fact that it came in a meet that was never originally scheduled – the Indiana State Twilight on May 6 in place of IU's cancelled Billy Hayes Invite. Timlin's time is the third-best in the advantageous fourth and final heat.
Junior
Tristan Parmley had an unbelievable outing at the MVC Outdoor Championships two weeks ago, and his stellar All-MVC performance in the 100-meter dash there earned him a spot at the regional meet. Parmley – a native of French Lick, Ind. – led all Sycamore men with 12.5 total points scored, but his most impressive performance of the weekend came in that 100-meter dash. He finished third at a blazing new school-record (and NCAA wind-legal) time of 10.29 seconds – breaking Tony Tate's 1993 record of 10.33 and ranking 27th in the East entering the meet.
Parmley lost out to UNI's Brandon Carnes, who ran an absurd 9.97 for the MVC title. That turned out to be valuable practice for the Sycamore junior, as he is in the sixth and final heat of the 100 at 6:55 p.m. against Tennessee junior Christian Coleman – who currently ranks No. 1 in the United States and No. 3 in the world in all conditions at 9.93 seconds. Coleman was a member of Team USA for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio on the 4x100-meter relay.
Like Timlin, senior All-American and Indianapolis native
Alethia Marrero is no stranger to the regional or national meet, and she will be looking to make a return trip out to Eugene in the 800-meter after sitting out the 2016 season due to injury. Marrero – like Moore in the 800 and 1500 – was originally qualified in both the 800 and the 400-meter hurdles following her MVC title in the hurdles two weeks ago at a career-best 57.63.
Marrero and ISU head coach
Angela Martin both agreed that the 800 would yield the best chance of making an NCAA final, and Marrero has the resume to prove it. In 2015, she had a season for the ages in the 800 – her first actual season of running the race after being a short to mid-distance sprinter/hurdler prior. Marrero went to the NCAA Indoor Championships that year after setting a new MVC record at 2:04.73, finishing 16th overall at the national meet for Second-Team All-American status.
She then went on a tear in the outdoor season, culminating in an obliteration of the MVC Outdoor record in the 800 to win the East Region at 2:02.67. She advanced into the NCAA final out in Eugene, where she finished fifth overall for First-Team All-American honors at 2:03.86 in a historically fast 800 final (won by Oregon's Raevyn Rogers, who ran the fastest time by a freshman in NCAA history at 1:59.71).
Marrero's season-best in the 800 is 2:06.33, the 22nd-best time in the East entering the meet.
Indiana State's final competitor on Thursday is sophomore
Akis Medrano in the 10,000-meter. Medrano benefitted from the scratch-down lists, qualifying in the 10K with the 43rd-best time at 29:50.99. Medrano – a native of Boswell, Ind. – has also had a strong sophomore campaign for the Sycamore distance runners, finishing seventh overall at the MVC Cross Country Championships for All-MVC honors in the fall and scoring in both the 5K and 10K at the MVC Outdoor Championships.
Medrano's qualifying time in the 10K was good for fifth place at the Drake Relays back in April and ranks fourth all-time on Indiana State's illustrious list – led by All-American
John Mascari at an MVC record 28:38.22.
Friday, May 26
5:00 p.m. –
Daley Carter – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles First Round (Heat 6, Lane 4)
5:00 p.m. –
Marcus Neely – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles First Round (Heat 3, Lane 4)
6:30 p.m. –
Alethia Marrero – Women's 800-Meter Quarterfinal (Heat 3, Lane 6)
8:20 p.m. –
Taylor Austin – Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase Quarterfinal (Heat 3)
Friday will feature two Sycamores looking to keep the
Hurdle U tradition going strong in senior
Marcus Neely of Indianapolis and junior
Daley Carter of Barbados. Both are coming off a historic trip to the MVC Outdoor Championships, where Neely was able to capture the sixth-straight MVC title in the men's 110-meter hurdles for Indiana State – the most by any Valley team since Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) won nine straight from 1937-48 (there were no contests from 1943-45 due to the Second World War). Carter cleaned up with a runner-up finish for All-MVC honors – the fifth-straight season Indiana State placed at least two Sycamores on the podium in the men's hurdles.
Both Sycamores ran personal bests in that MVC final that helped their standing entering the East Region Prelims, with Neely winning at 13.62 and Carter jumping onto the all-time top-10 list in sixth at 13.78. Both are in good standing to potentially punch their ticket to Eugene, with Neely seventh overall in the East and Carter sitting in 12th.
Both will be looking to add their names to a prestigious list of Sycamore men to run in the hurdles at the national meet, including NCAA Champions Chris Lancaster and Aubrey Herring, and All-Americans Greggmar Swift (who also was an Olympian for his native Barbados in 2012) and
Adarius Washington.
Junior
Taylor Austin will wrap up Day Two for Indiana State in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Austin – a native of Griffith, Ind. – qualified for the East Regional in the steeple as a sophomore as well in 2016, finishing 19th overall.
Austin is the two-time defending MVC steeple champion, with her most recent win coming by 19 seconds at 10:19.00 over Wichita State's Rebekah Topham. Her school record time of 10:13.42 was run on a frigid and wet day at the Drake Relays in April where she finished third overall. Entering the season, Austin's career-best was an ISU record 10:17.70, and in her three steeple races this season she hasn't run slower that 10:17.73 (which was her season-opener at the Stanford Invite).
Her time of 10:13.42 ranks 18th among entries in the East, and she will run in the third and final heat against national leader Elinor Purrier of New Hampshire (9:43.65).
Saturday, May 27
3:00 p.m. –
Jaime Murtagh – Men's High Jump First Round (Flight 1)
6:30 p.m. –
Brooke Moore – Women's 1500-Meter Quarterfinal (Heat 1)
6:45 p.m. –
David Timlin – Men's 1500-Meter Quarterfinal (Heat 2)
7:20 p.m. –
Marcus Neely – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles Quarterfinal (Heat 1, Lane 6)
7:20 p.m. –
Daley Carter – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles Quarterfinal (Heat 3, Lane 9)
Junior
Jaime Murtagh will be the lone new competitor for the Sycamores on the third and final day in the men's high jump. This is the second trip to the East Regional for Murtagh, a native of Ashbourne, Ireland, after finishing 21st as a sophomore in 2016.
Murtagh enters at a career-best height of 2.12m (6-11.50) – 27th-best among entries and the same height he cleared to win the Irish national championships last summer. Murtagh is coming off his second career All-MVC honor in the high jump at the MVC Outdoor Championships, finishing as the runner-up.
COMPLETE SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 25
5:30 p.m. –
Brooke Moore – Women's 1500-Meter First Round
6:00 p.m. –
David Timlin – Men's 1500-Meter First Round
6:55 p.m. –
Tristan Parmley – Men's 100-Meter Dash First Round
8:10 p.m. –
Alethia Marrero – Women's 800-Meter First Round
9:40 p.m. –
Akis Medrano – Men's 10,000-Meter Semifinal
Friday, May 26
5:00 p.m. –
Daley Carter – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles First Round
5:00 p.m. –
Marcus Neely – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles First Round
6:30 p.m. –
Alethia Marrero – Women's 800-Meter Quarterfinal
8:20 p.m. –
Taylor Austin – Women's 3,000-Meter Steeplechase Quarterfinal
Saturday, May 27
3:00 p.m. –
Jaime Murtagh – Men's High Jump First Round (Flight 1)
6:30 p.m. –
Brooke Moore – Women's 1500-Meter Quarterfinal (Heat 1)
6:45 p.m. –
David Timlin – Men's 1500-Meter Quarterfinal (Heat 2)
7:20 p.m. –
Marcus Neely – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles Quarterfinal (Heat 1, Lane 6)
7:20 p.m. –
Daley Carter – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles Quarterfinal (Heat 3, Lane 9)
Men's Entries (6):
7.
Marcus Neely – 110-Meter Hurdles – 13.62
12.
Daley Carter – 110-Meter Hurdles – 13.78
13.
David Timlin – 1500-Meter – 3:42.93
27.
Jaime Murtagh – High Jump – 2.12m (6-11.50)
27.
Tristan Parmley – 100-Meter Dash – 10.29
43.
Akis Medrano – 10,000-Meter – 29:50.99
Women's Entries (3):
18.
Taylor Austin – 3,000-Meter Steeplechase – 10:13.42
20.
Brooke Moore – 1500-Meter – 4:20.02
22.
Alethia Marrero – 800-Meter – 2:06.33
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.
