Indiana State athletes fare well against
top athletes at Grand Valley State Big Meet
KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
ALLENDALE, MICH. ? Indiana State junior Major Clay (Springfield, Ill.) tied the school record for the men's indoor high jump and automatically qualified for the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, winning the competition at the Grand Valley State Big Meet Friday.
Clay cleared a personal best 7'-4.5” (2.25 meters) to tie the 20-year-old school record which was established by Sycamore All-American Steve Smith in 1991. The height also broke the meet and facility record.
“Certainly the highlight of the meet for us was the win by Major (Clay),” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. “This was a pretty good day for us. It is a great facility and well worth the trip.”
The Sycamore junior won by over four-inches as Purdue's Geoffery Davis was second by clearing 7'-0.25” (2.14 meters). Davis won a judge's decision over Clay at the Gene Edmonds Cup earlier this season as both cleared 7'-3” (2.21 meters) with Davis having fewer misses at the lower heights than Clay.
“I think that we accomplished up here exactly what we wanted to,” McNichols said. “We had improvements in a lot of performances ahead of the conference championships and now we can concentrate on fine tuning in preparation for the MVC.”
The top four individuals in the Missouri Valley Conference, Indiana State sophomore Felisha Johnson and senior Kelsey Hanley along with Southern Illinois junior Jeneva McCall and senior Gwen Berry, battled it out in the women's weight throw. Berry leads the nation in the event with Johnson second, McCall third, and Hanley eighth.
McCall broke the meet record she established a year ago with a winning throw of 73'-11.5” (22.54 meters) with Johnson right behind her in second with a throw of 73'-2” (22.30 meters), the fifth time in six meets that the Sycamore sophomore has surpassed the automatic qualifying mark for the event. Berry finished third at 71'-0.5” (21.65 meters) with Hanley placing fifth with a throw of 65'-5.5” (19.95 meters).
Senior Daryl Truitt ran a season best 6.87 seconds to finish third (the second collegian) in the 60 meters for the Sycamore men while sophomore Justin Baxtron tied for 12th by tying his personal best of 7.02 in the finals. Baxtron also tied for sixth in the 200 meters with a personal best 22.03 with freshman Shaun Smith running a personal best 22.07 to finish 11th.
Freshman Keenan Johnson also had a personal best in the 400 meters in finishing 10th in 48.75 while fellow freshman Max Tuttle also ran a personal best of 48.85 in finishing 13th overall. Freshman Brad Adams ran the eighth fastest 800 meters in school history, finishing 12th overall in a personal best 1:53.07.
Junior Jeremiah Vaughan returned to action after recovering from the flu and ran a season best 4:09.21 to place ninth overall (the sixth collegian) in the mile. Sophomore Dustin Betz was 11th overall (eighth collegian) in 4:11.32. Junior Craig Padgett ran 8:24.37 to place 15th in the 3,000 meters while senior Tyler Kent ran a personal best 14:48.68 to place 18th in the 5,000 meters.
“It was great to have (Jeremiah) Vaughan back,” McNichols said. “He was just a little off but ran really well as did (Brad) Adams in the 800 and (Michael) Roberts in the 60 hurdles.”
Roberts, a senior, had the second fastest time in the 60 meters hurdles of 8.13 after the preliminaries but then stepped it up in the finals, finishing in 8.04 seconds to finish tied for third. The 4x400 meter relay team of freshman Keenan Johnson, Adams, junior Andrew Stull, and Tuttle ran a season best 3:15.74 in finishing fourth.
Juniors Drew LaMaster and Steven Swinford tied for eighth in the pole vault, both clearing 15'-9” (4.80 meters). Freshman Shayne Cureton had a leap of 22'-5.75” (6.85 meters) to place seventh in the long jump, and junior Ernest Rollins had a leap of 47'-1.5” (14.36 meters) in placing second in the triple jump.
Freshman Chris Fields had the top throw for Indiana State in the shot put with a heave of 49'-8.25” (15.14 meters) to place 14th overall while sophomore Gregory McDaniel had the best toss in the weight throw of 56'-0” (17.07 meters) in placing 11th overall.
The Sycamores have just two men left in the competition as freshman Robert Webb and sophomore Dexter Childress are competing in the Heptathlon which will wrap up Saturday morning. Webb sits in second place with 2,784 points and Childress is eighth with 2,455 points with the 60 meter hurdles, pole vault, and 1,000 meters yet to be contested.
Webb won the high jump competition and was second in the long jump while finishing fourth in the 60 meter dash, and 11th in the shot put. Childress was fifth in both the long jump and shot put, sixth in the 60 meters, and 11th in the high jump. His best events will be held on Saturday.
On the women's side, Johnson also finished fifth in the weight throw with a toss of 50'-0” (15.24 meters), sophomore Shalesa Smith was 10th in the triple jump with a leap of 37'-6.5” (11.44 meters), and freshman Shelby Higginbottom was eighth in the long jump with a leap of 17'-11” (5.46 meters).
Former Indiana State athlete Lauren Martin won the triple jump competition with a leap of 41'3.75” (12.59 meters), just missing the meet record of 12.60 meters. Martin holds the Indiana State triple jump record at 43'-10.5” (13.37 meters) which she set a year ago.
The Sycamores had three pole vaulters finish in the top 10 of the event led by junior Nichole Hope who cleared 12'-07.5” (3.85 meters) to finish in fourth. Sophomore Richelle Kimble tied for fifth at 12'-1.5” (3.70 meters), and senior Alicia Fritschi tied for 10th at 11'-7.75” (3.55 meters).
Higginbottom also finished 18th in the 200 meters with a personal best time of 25.83 seconds with sophomore Leeann Michl running a personal best 56.80 to place 13th in the 400 meters. Michl's time is the ninth best in school history and Higginbottom's the 18th best.
Freshman Amy Fanella ran a personal best 1:39.96 to finish eighth in the 600 meters and senior Allison Malone ran a season best 10:09.32 to place 18th in the 3,000 meters. Junior Kaci Smith led the Sycamore effort in the 800 meters as she finished 22nd in 2:16.96 while senior Kelsie Slater led ISU in the mile as she placed 38th in a personal best 5:08.76. Freshman Jessica Zangmeister ran her first 5,000 meter race as a Sycamore and finished 25th overall in 17:48.55.
Junior Sarah Snapp made it to the finals of the 60 meter hurdles and finished in sixth with a time of 8.97 seconds. The 4x400 meter relay team of Higginbottom, Smith, senior Rachel Posey, and Michl was eighth in 3:50.24.
Indiana State also had three competitors in the Pentathlon with freshman Kelly Steffen finishing third overall (the second collegian) with 3,408 points which ranks third on the ISU all-time list. Freshman Rachael Johnson was eighth overall (seventh collegian) with 3,186 points which is the eighth best in ISU history. Sophomore Patricia Merrion rounded out the ISU competitors and scored 2,642 points to place as the 10th collegian.
Merrion had a second place finish in the 800 meters while Johnson was second in the high jump and third in the 800 meters. Steffen's best finish came in the shot put with a fourth place but added fifth in the high jump and 800 meters, and sixth in the 60 meter hurdles and long jump en route to finishing third overall.
Indiana State will be back in action next Friday when they compete in the Eastern Illinois University Friday Night Special. This is the final meet before the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships which will be held at the University of Northern Iowa Feb. 26-27.
