KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
AMES, IOWA ? Indiana State picked up a pair of wins on the final day of competition at the Iowa State Classic Saturday as senior Lauren Martin captured the women's triple jump, junior Major Clay set a new personal best in claiming the men's high jump, and sophomore Jeremiah Vaughan won the seeded 3,000 meters.
“Clay has solidified his chances of competing at the nationals in Arkansas with this win here tonight,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach said. “We didn't do as well as we had hoped to at this meet but it is a very, very long meet and the kids get tired from hanging around all day before competing. But we did have some very good performances and we will use next Friday's meet to fine tune things before the conference championships.”
Clay has his best effort of the season in winning the high jump competition by clearing 7'-3” (2.21m). That is his personal best indoors and ranks third on the Indiana State all-time list. It also moves him into the top 10 of the nation and as high as sixth.
Vaughan led a group of four Indiana State men who finished strong in the seeded 3,000 meter run by winning with a time of 8:12.54. Michael Disher came in 10th with a time of 8:30.60 while Craig Padgett finished 14th in a personal best time of 8:33.22, and Dustin Betz was 22nd in 8:43.57.
Martin surpassed the provisional qualifying mark for the third time this season as she went 42'-10.25” (13.06m) in winning the event by over two feet. Samia Taylor of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was second in the event with a jump of 40'-9.50” (12.43m). Shalesa Smith finished 13th overall (12th collegian) in the event for the Sycamores with a jump of 37'-9.75” (11.37m).
“The big performer of the day for us was Lauren who won the triple jump,” John Gartland, Indiana State women's track & field coach said. “This was really a strange meet for us because Martin's finish, combined what we had done previously at the meet, showed that we really dominated in the field events. We just didn't do that well in the track events at this meet.”
Other Sycamores also had top 10 finishes at the Iowa State Classic on Saturday including Brandon Pounds who finished fourth in the men's shot put with a throw of 57'-7” (17.55m). Chennelle Martin tied for fifth in the women's high jump at 5'-6” (1.68) with Annie Smith 13th with a jump 5'-4.25” (1.63m). Sophomore Jeremy Pratt tied for fifth in the unseeded pole vault as he cleared 15'-7.75” (4.77m) while Steve Swinford finished 18th overall with a vault of 15'-1.75” (4.62m).
In the women's shot put, Felisha Johnson and Tara Perigo tied for 30th overall as both threw 43'-5.75” (13.25m) while Kasey Kahle was 43rd overall with a throw of 39'-6.5” (12.05m).
On the track side, the men's 4x400 relay team ran a season best 3:18.54 to finish 20th overall. That team includes Andrew Stull, Daryl Truitt, Colton Slack, and Tykeen Fulton.
Andrew Lepkowski came through with a fifth place finish in the mile with a personal best time of 4:17.61. Michael Roberts made the finals of the 60 meter hurdles and finished 14th overall with a time of 8.17 after running 8.10 in the preliminaries. Daryl Truitt made the finals in the 60 meters as finished 11th overall with a time of 6.96. Truitt ran 6.95 in the preliminaries.
On the women's side, Leeann Michl ran a personal best 57.77 to finish 13th in the 400 meters while Adriane Wunderlich ran 2:16.00 to finish 15th in the 800 meters. Stacia Weatherford ran a personal best 57.00 in the seeded 400 meters to finish 20th overall. Weatherford's time is the 10th best in school history.
Other results from the women's track action included Keslie Slater 28th in the mile (5:13.69), Kaci Smith 29th in the 800 meters (2:18.36), Macey Black 48th in the 400 unseeded (1:00.09), Sarah Snapp 27th in the 60 meter hurdles (9.12), Tori Stone 34th in the 60 meter hurdles (9.22), Jaquelle Spencer 21st in the 60 meters (7.75), and Jasmyn Hudgins 36th in the 60 meters (7.88).
Other results from the men's track action included Derek Stinefield 42nd in the mile (4:32.45), Konstantinos Tzirtziris 36th in the 800 meters (1:57.09), Aaron Garretson 61st in the 800 meter (2:00.38), Colton Slack 30th in the unseeded 400 meters (50.17), Tykeen Fulton 34th (8.49), Dexter Childress 45th (8.66), and Patrick Mendenhall 60th (9.09) in the 60 meter hurdles, and Tra Wilson 28th (7.02) and Justin Baxtron 58th (7.23) in the 60 meters.
Indiana State will compete in the Friday Night Special at Eastern Illinois University next Friday.
