Indiana State athletes to take on some of
best in Great Lakes Region this weekend
KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Indiana State track & field team has just two meets left before the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa (Feb. 26-27). The Sycamores continue their preparations for the conference championships this weekend as they compete at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet in Allendale, Mich.
Competition begins at 10:50 a.m. (ET) Friday with action in the Mutli-Event Invite starting with the Women's Pentathlon. Running events will begin at 12:30 p.m. (ET) with the women's 5,000 meters while the field events will start at 3 p.m. (ET). Most of the action will conclude on Friday with a few concluding on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. (ET).
“This is the first time that we have been to this facility and we are looking forward to the change of scenery,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. “We will be working on performances again with this meet as we try to better our seeds for the conference championship.”
Many of the top teams from the Great Lakes Region will be in competition at Grand Valley State including Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue from the Big Ten, and Missouri Valley Conference foe Southern Illinois.
“There will be very good competition at this meet,” McNichols said. “It gives our athletes another opportunity to compete on a 300 meter track which may be a bigger advantage to our sprinters than the distance runners.”
Sophomore Dexter Childress and freshman Robert Webb will be competing in the Heptathlon for the first time this year. Childress ranks third on the ISU all-time list in the multi event after scoring 4,719 points a year ago while this will be Webb's first experience in the multi as a collegian.
Junior Jeremiah Vaughan, who had the flu last week, has recovered and will compete in the mile along with sophomore Dustin Betz. Junior Craig Padgett, senior Michael Disher, and sophomore Albaro Escalera who competed in the 5,000 meters last week will run in the 3,000 meters this week with senior Tyler Kent moving up to the 5,000 meters.
“I think our sprinters are ready to take advantage of this track and run some very good times,” McNichols said. “They have had a good week of training.”
McNichols also expects better performances in the field events.
“We kind of hit a plateau in the jumps after a great start but I think they are ready to get back to posting some good marks,” McNichols said. “Our throwers have been steadily getting better. They are young and still getting used to competing at this level but (Adam) Judge has been doing an outstanding job with them.”
The Sycamore women will be competing in two events that they have not done so far this season. Freshmen Rachel Johnson and Kelly Steffen will join sophomore Patricia Merrion in the Pentathlon while freshman Jessica Zangmeister, sophomore Kylee Thacker and junior Bethany Scruton will compete in the 5,000 meters for the first time this season.
“The girls are very excited to be competing,” Angie Martin, Indiana State women's track & field coach, said. “This is a different kind of competition than we have seen. It is a really big meet with some very good competition.”
Martin said that she expects continued improvement both in the track events and the field events at this meet.
“We have been improving throughout the season and I expect that to continue this weekend,” Martin said. “We separated the teams last week to take advantage of what the different venues had to offer. I think part of the excitement is due to the team being back to together. They may compete in individual events but they pull for each other as a team.”
There will not be any live results from this meet.
