KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

MADISON, WIS.  ? The Indiana State Sycamores competed at the Wisconsin Elite Invitational this weekend at the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center (“The Shell”) with both teams finishing third, just behind Big Ten Wisconsin and Purdue.

Wisconsin won the men's team title with 231.5 points while Purdue was second with 176, Indiana State third with 152, South Dakota fourth with 121, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee fifth with 71.5. On the women's side, Wisconsin had 222 to win the team title with Purdue holding off Indiana State to take second with 190 points, the Sycamores were third with 178, Wisconsin-Milwaukee fourth with 115, and South Dakota fifth with 91 points.

“Overall it was a pretty good meet,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. “The kids ran hard. I think the key for us here was some really nice individual performances. Now we have two weeks of just performance oriented competition with no team scores kept as we prepare for the conference championships.”

Indiana State women's coach John Gartland was unable to travel with the team due to illness but assistant coach Angie Martin thought it was a good showing for the Sycamore women.

“It is tough to take third place but the girls competed hard in every event that they were in,” Martin said. “It will be nice to be able to work on some individual stuff for the next two weeks without worrying about the team score.”

Several outstanding performances were recorded by the Sycamores on the day including a near record performance by ISU sophomore Jeremiah Vaughan in the 3,000 meters. The Sycamore came within a half-second of establishing an Indiana State record as he finished fifth in the event with a time of 8:08.78. All-American Jordan Fife holds the ISU mark at 8:08.14. Vaughan's time was also just a second off a provisional qualifying time.

“Vaughan was really close to a provisional in the 3,000 on a flat 200 track,” McNichols said. “For as young as he is, Vaughan is running awfully tough right now.”

Sycamore junior Kelsey Hanley captured the women's weight throw with a provisional qualifying throw of 65'7” (19.99m), a career best throw and the second best throw in Indiana State history. ISU freshman Felisha Johnson was sixth with a throw of 56'-8.5” (17.27m). Johnson also finished fourth in the in the shot put with a throw of 47'-11.75” (14.62m) with sophomore Tara Perigo sixth with a personal best throw of 56'-8.5” (13.34m).

“Hanley did a really great job in the weight throw,” Martin said. “She just keeps getting better with each week.”

Senior Kylie Hutson won her fourth straight pole vault competition of the indoor season and again reached the automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships with a winning vault of 13'-11.25” (4.25m). Junior Alicia Fritschi finished fifth at 12'-0.5” (3.67m) which is an indoor personal best for her.

Senior Erica Moore ran the second fastest indoor 400 meter time in school history as she won the event and provisionally qualified for the NCAA National Indoor Championships with a time of 54.47. It is the second event that Moore has provisionally qualified in as she also surpassed the provisional mark in the 800 meters. Freshman Stacia Weatherford finished fourth in 58.08.

Indiana State sophomore Kacie Klem ran the third fastest mile in school history, finishing third in a personal best time of 4:58.40. Sycamore junior Kelsie Slater also had a personal best time of 4:10.22 in finishing sixth in the event.

The Indiana State 4x400 meter relay team of Weatherford, senior Lauren Martin, freshman Leeann Michl, and Moore ran a season best 3:45.80 to win the event on Saturday as they beat Wisconsin's top team by four seconds and Purdue's top team by nine seconds.

Lauren Martin once again surpassed the provisional qualifying mark in the triple jump as she finished second with a jump of 41'-7.75” (12.69m), losing to Wisconsin's Chavon Robinson by just a centimer. She also took fourth in the long jump at 18'-9.75” (5.73m) with Moore fifth at 18'-8” (5.69m). Freshman Shalesa Smith was 10th in the triple jump at 35'-7.74” (10.86m).

Junior Chennelle Martin had a personal best jump of 5'-7” (1.70m) to finish third in the high jump while senior Annie Smith was fifth at 5'-5” (1.65m).

“Lauren did really well in the triple jump for the second week in a row,” Martin said. “It was a heartbreaker to lose by just a centimeter. Chennelle keeps competing hard in the high jump and had a lot of jumps today and Kacie hung in there and almost finished second in the mile. Erica did a really great job in the 400 and came back to anchor an awesome 4x400 relay.”

Junior Jaquelle Spencer finished third in the 60 meters (7.84) and sixth in the 200 meters (25.98) while freshman Macey Black finished 11th in the 60 meters (8.33) and 12th in the 200 meters with a personal best time of 26.91. ISU freshman Jasmyn Hudgins was 11th in the 200 meters (26.71).

Sophomore Kaci Smith was fourth in the 600 meters (1:38.00) with junior Rachel Posey seventh (1:39.74), Michl finished fourth in the 800 meters (2:19.65) with sophomore Kristy Twitchell 11th (2:24.66), freshman Kylee Thacker finished 11th in the 3,000 meters (10:46.18), and Moore finished second in the 60 meter hurdles (8.84) with freshman Staci Weatherford eighth (9.09).

Indiana State took the top three spots in the men's weight throw for the second straight week with senior Josh Williams leading the ISU dominance with a winning throw of 62'-1.5” (18.93m). Sophomore Brandon Pounds took second with a throw of 61'-11.5” (18.88m) and senior Lyle Nolcox was third with a throw of 59'-8.5” (18.20m). Pounds also took second in the shot put with a throw of 56'-4” (17.17m). Williams was 10th at 44'-0.5” (13.42m).

“We swept the weight throw for the second week in a row,” McNichols said. “I was really pleased to see that Pounds is getting back to his old form in the shot put.”

Sophomore Ernest Rollins captured first place in the triple jump with a distance of 46'-0.5” (14.03m) while sophomore Tra Wilson was 11th in the long jump at 20'-1.75” (6.14m) and sophomore Sean Krieg 12th at 19'-6:” (5.94m).

The Sycamore pole vaulters continued to show their improvement as sophomore Jeremy Pratt took third and junior Steven Swinford fourth, both vaulting 15'-7” (4.75m) with Pratt getting the top spot with fewer misses. Sophomore Drew LaMaster also broke into the top 10 as he finished eighth at 15'-1” (4.60m).

Each of Indiana State's competitors in the mile run had personal best times with sophomore Michael Disher finishing fifth in 4:15.98, freshman Derek Stinefield ninth in 4:20.33, and sophomore Craig Padgett 10th in 4:24.28.

Junior Daryl Truitt placed fourth in the 60 meter dash (6.92) while Wilson was 10th (7.13). Junior Andrew Stull was ninth in the 400 meters with a personal best time of 50.19 with junior Tykeen Fulton 15th (51.72). Freshman Dexter Childress finished ninth in the 600 meters for ISU (1:25.80) with fellow freshman Corey Olive 10th in a personal best time of 1:27.58. Junior Andrew Lepkowski was fourth in the 800 meters in a personal best time of 1:55.82.

Junior Michael Roberts ran a personal best 8.06 in the preliminaries of the 60 meter hurdles and came back to finish third in the finals with a time of 8.09. Senior Patrick Mendenhall was seventh in the finals in 8.65.

The meet also featured an exhibition discus competition, an event that is not usually held indoors due to limited space. Hanley led the Sycamore women with a fourth place finish at 131'-7" (40.11m) while Johnson was fifth at 131'-5" (40.05m), Tara Perigo eighth at 126'7" (39.58m), Sarah Baker 12th at 109'-7" (33.40m), and Kasey Kahle13th at 108'-7: (33.09m). For the men Pounds placed fifth at 153'-8" (46.85m), Julius Smith sixth at 152'-6" (46.48m), and Williams eighth  at 142'-1" (43.32m).

The Sycamores will be competing at the Meyo Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame, next Friday and Saturday.