By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana State had several impressive performances all around at Day Two of the Gladstein Invitational, including one from the women's 4x800 meter relay squad that toppled a seven-year-old school record.
That relay – ran by sophomore IU transfer Brittany Neeley, sophomore Aleksey Green, sophomore Taylor Austin and freshman Brooke Moore – finished second to Indiana at 9:07.27, breaking the 2009 squad's time of 9:08.43. Neeley settled in during her first 400 meters of the race before exploding to a commanding lead on her last quarter-mile leg. The Hoosiers (9:03.60) were able to take the lead on the second leg, but Green, Austin and Moore each ran tremendous legs of their own to give ISU a runner-up finish.
While the 4x800 is not run at the NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championships, ISU's time today ranks eighth in the nation – one of three times in this race that rank in the top-10 nationally.
The women's 4x400 meter relay of Jamie Newsome, Demetra Camble, Chidera Obasih and Oschtisha Jackson also had a strong day, finishing fourth overall at a season-best 3:48.73 – the 14th-best 4x400 time in ISU history.
Speaking of Obasih, the senior Brookfield, Wis., native won her second-straight 60 meter dash title on Saturday. Obasih won on a steady time of 7.45 seconds after running 7.46 in the prelims Friday night. She won by a wide margin today at .15 seconds over No. 1 Arkansas' Kiara Parker (7.60). Obasih has a season-best of 7.40 ran last week at home, which ranks No. 3 all-time at Indiana State.
Also staying steady were the Sycamore men in the 60 meter hurdles finals. ISU put three current Sycamores through to the final (plus former All-American Greggmar Swift). Swift won the event at a time of 7.76, followed by All-American senior Adarius Washington (7.87), sophomores Marcus Neely (8.28) and Jacob Wright (8.43).
”We started good with Adarius being the top collegian in the hurdles,” McNichols said. “His time isn't what we'd hoped for, but it was a morning race, so it was really like a prelim after running a prelim last night. We're going to get faster in the right setting without a doubt.”
Other strong performances on the track included Blake Kramer in the fast section of the men's 800 (seventh, 1:55.00), Aleksey Green in the 600 (eighth, 1:36.88) and sprinter Carl McQuay in the fast section of the men's 200 meter dash (fifth, 22.31, season-best).
Leading the way in the field was sophomore high jumper Jamie Murtaugh, who finished third overall at a career-best 2.06m (6-09.00). Murtaugh is now tied for fourth in the MVC, the leader being today's champion at IU, Kyle Landon of Southern Illinois (2.20m/7-02.50).
Making finals in other field events were: Katelyn Rutz in the women's shot put (14.81m/48-07.25), Ryan Chestnut in the men's weight throw (17.51m/57-05.00, season-best), Scott Schreiber in the men's long jump (6.99m/22-11.25) and in the women's long jump Mandy Jones (eighth, 5.53m/18-01.75, season-best) and Kaisha Martin (ninth, 5.48m/17-11.75, season-best).
Up next for the Sycamores is a trip up to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for a five-team scored meet against Drake, South Dakota State, Marquette and host-school Northern Iowa.
“This weekend we learned a lot about our team and know what we need to work on,” said ISU women's head coach Angela Martin. “We had some nice efforts by our two relays today, and we are excited to get back to team competition next week at UNI.”
“We're making progress, but we still have a lot to do to even be close to where we want to be,” McNichols said.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Track and Field team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
