KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

BLOOMINGTON, IND.  ? The Indiana State men's track & field 4x100 relay team has been close to a regional qualifying mark several times this season and Friday they were able to punch their ticket to the Mideast Regional in Louisville, Ky., later this month.

Daryl Truitt, Gary Ogburn, Sean Wright and Andrew Stull won the 4x100 meter relay at the Billy Hayes Invitational Saturday at Indiana University with a regional qualifying time of 40.46. Stull took the baton on the final handoff trailing Indiana's anchor but was able to pass the Hoosier for the win.

“I don't know if it was because it was an Indiana runner ahead of him or what but Stull really went after the Indiana runner and was able to get past him,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach said. “We have been so close so many times this season to that regional mark it is great that they were finally able to get it.”

The Sycamore men nearly came through with another regional qualifying effort in the 4x400 meter relay. Gary Ogburn, Anthony Bertoli, Colton Slack and Sean Wright combined to win the event in 3:10.21, just off the regional qualifying mark of 3:10.00.

Michael Disher and Kyle Walsh finished 1-2 in the 3000 meter steeplechase with Disher winning in 9:09.61 and Walsh second in 9:21.57. Eric Schulz won the 3000 meters in 8:39.02 while Jeremiah Vaughan was second in the 1500 meters (3:52.24) with Scott Koressel fifth (3:55.17) and Bryan Alexander eighth (3:56.98).

Anthony Bertoli finished sixth in the 110 meter hurdles (15.05) with James Twitchell sixth in the 400 meter hurdles (53.23), and Andrew Stull seventh in the 400 meters (49.30).

In field events, George Weed was second in the shot put with a toss of 52'4” (15.95 meters) and fourth in the discus with a throw of 161'11” (49.36 meters). Julius Smith was sixth in the hammer with a throw of 177'11” (54.23 meters) and Joshua Williams placed fifth in the javelin with a throw of 157'11” (48.14 meters).

David Bell and Brandon Youngdale both had a leap of 6'6.75” (2.00 meters) in the high jump with Bell taking fourth and Youngdale seventh. Ernest Rollins placed fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 46'1.5” (14.06 meters), Steven Swinford fifth in the pole vault with a vault of 16'0.75” (4.90 meters), and Jon Lautzenheiser seventh in the long jump with a leap of 21'8.25” (6.61 meters).

For the Indiana State women, regional qualifying efforts were turned in by several Sycamores during the invitational. Erica Moore cruised to a victory in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.14 while Kylie Hutson won the pole vault with a height of 13'9.25” (4.20 meters) and Kelsey Hanley placed second in the discus with a career best throw of 156'6” (47.71 meters) and third in the hammer with a toss of 181'7” (55.35 meters).

Sarah Snapp placed sixth in the finals of the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.80 after running 15.04 in the preliminaries. Mary Kate Conway was fourth in the 200 meter hurdles with a time of 24.92 with Kelsie Slater was sixth in the 1500 meters in 4:53.06 while Heather Stembridge placed fifth in the 1500 meter invitational in 4:33.05 and Emily Pugh was fifth (11:01.93) and Bethany Scruton sixth (11:11.87) in the 3000 meters.

The Sycamore 4x100 meter relay team finished third in a very close race as Jaquelle Spencer, Jeanne' Middleton, Lauren Martin and Mary Kate Conway ran to a 46.10 finish, just a half second off the regional qualifying mark.

The 4x400 meter relay team of Adriane Wunderlich, Kaci Smith, Katie Weber and Allison Malone was sixth with a time of 3:55.69.

Brynlea Mattocks was seventh in the high jump with a leap of 5'1” (1.55 meters) while Nikki Royer was eighth in the pole vault with a vault of 12'1.5” (3.70 meters).

The Billy Hayes Invitational was delayed nearly two hours by lightning. The Sycamores will host the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships starting Friday.