KEVIN JENISON
GoSYcamores.com
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA ? The Indiana State track & field teams exceeded expectations on the first day of the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships with eight individuals earning All-Conference recognition with their finishes during Saturday's competition in the Uni Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa.
“We are ahead of the form chart,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's trac & field coach, said. “It was a very good day for the Sycamores. And we have a lot of people racing tomorrow which sets us up well to stay in competition for the team title.”
Indiana State women's head coach Angie Martin was also excited about the first day of competitiion.
“The people we expected to advance to the finals, made the finals,” Martin said. “The kids really competed hard today. The distance medley relay team really put in a great effort to finish second and that was a great way for us to finish tonight. Hopefully, that momentum will carry on to tomrorrow.”
The Sycamores and Southern Illinois have opened up some distance in the men's team race, much the same as the two schools have done in the past two MVC Cross Country Championships, both won by the Sycamores. Indiana State sits in second place after the first day of competition with 50 points while Southern Illinois leads the field with 61 points. Northern Iowa is third with 34, Wichita State fourht with 24, and Illinois State fifth with 16 points. Drake is sixth but has yet to score in the meet.
Defending champion Wichita State leads the women's field with 60 points while Southern Illinois is second with 54. Illinois State is third with 28 while Indiana State is fourth at 25, Norhtern Iowa fifth with 15, Missouri State sixth with seven, and Drake and Bradley each have three points and tied for seventh.
Freshman Nigel Jolly led the Sycamore men effort by recording a second place finish in the long jump with a personal best jump of 24'-5.75” (7.46 meters). That is the third best jump in school history with Frankie Young going 26'-1.75” (7.97 meters) in 1999 and Ron Smith going 24'-7.75” (7.51 meters) in 1990. Austin Bahner of Wichita State won the long jump title with a jump of 24'-8.5” (7.53 meters).
The Sycamores had four individuals in the top eight of the long jump and each posted a personal best in the competition. Besides Jolly, sophomore Marcel Hamilton was sixth (23'-5.5”), freshman Shayne Cureton seventh (23-5.25”), and sophomore Maurice Lyke eighth (23'-4.75”).
Indiana State also had three in scoring position in the pole vault led by junior Drew LaMaster who earned All-Conference with a third place finish after clearing 16'-1.25” (4.91 meters). LaMaster actually tied Southern Illinois' Tim Robberstad in height but was placed third with more misses. Norhtern Iowa's Sam Kranz won the title by clearing 17'-1” (5.21 meters).
ISU junior Steven Swinford finished fourth in the competition and sophomore Tucker Field seventh, the Sycamore duo joining three others in clearing 15'-7.25” (4.76 meters) with placements based on number of misses.
“The long jump and pole vault exceeded our expectations,” McNichols said.
Sophomore Dustin Betz was the other member of the ISU men's team to earn all-conference recognition with a third place finish in the 3,000 meters. Betz finished in 8:31.34. Seniro Michael Disher was fourth in 8:31.81 and sophomore Albaro Escalera fifth in 8:32.69.
Indiana State sophomore Felisha Johnson also earned all-conference recognition with a second place finish in the women's weight thro0w by just two-and-a-half inches. Johnson's best throw was 73'-2” (22.30 meters), the seventh time in eight meets this season that she has surpassed the automatic qualifying mark. SIU's Jeneva McCall won the event with a throw of 73'-4.5” (22.36 meters). Sycamore senior Kelsey Hanley had a throw of 66'-1” (20.14 meters) to finish fifth.
The 4000 meter distance medley relay team of senior Kelsie Slater, sophomore Tori Stone, junior Kacie Klem, and senior Allison Malone also earned all-conference reconition by finishing second in 12:03.94. That is the ninth fastest DMR in school history and a season best effort for that group of athletes. Illinois State won the event in 11:53.46 with Wichita State third in 12:04.55.
In other completed events on Saturday:
Freshman Kelly Steffen placed eighth in the Pentathlon with 3,322 points while freshman Rachael Johnson was 11th (3,117 points), freshman Amy Fanella 14th (2,755 points), and sophomore Patricia Merrion 15th (2,331 points).
Freshamn Shelby Higginbottom placed fifth in the women's long jump at 18'-7” (5.66 meters).
The Indiana State men's 4,000 meter distance medley relay team of freshman Drew Gambill, sophomore Corey Hahn, freshman Ray Skamay, and junior Jeremiah Vaughan finished fourth in 10:14.08. In the evnet, Hahn was knocked down in his 800 meter portion of the race which also happened to him in the earlier running of the 800 meter preliminaries.
Several Sycamores advanced out of the preliminaries on Saturday to thye finals on Sunday.
Sophomore Stacia Weatherford ran the seventh fastest time in the 200 meters (25.18) to advance to Sunday's finals while Higginbottom had the seventh fastest in the 400 meters (57.11), and sophomore Leeann Michl the seventh fastest in the 800 meters (2:14.84).
Senior Daryl Truitt had the third fastest time in the men's 60 meters (6.86), junior Andrew Stull the seventh fastest in the 200 meters (22.19), freshman Keenan Johnson the fifth fastest in the 400 meters (49.81), freshman Max Tuttle the eighth fastest in the 400 meters (49.99), freshman Brad Adams the fifth fastest in the 800 meters (1:53.90), senior Michael Roberts the third fastest in the 60 meter hurdles (7.98), and freshman Greggmar Swift the fourth fastest (8.04).
Roberts' time in the 60 meter hurdles was a personal best for the senior who has been trying to break the eight second mark all season long. It is the 11th fastest time in school history.
The first day of the Heptathlon has freshman Robert Webb currently in sixth with 2,737 points and a win in the high jump while sophomore Dexter Childress is currently in 13th with 2,353 points.
