TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State track and field plays host to its final home meet of the season Saturday as part of a split-squad weekend. The Sycamores will send a contingent to the Drake Relays, set for Thursday through Saturday, while also welcoming teams to the Gibson Track & Field Complex for the Sycamore Open.
Thursday's competiton at the Drake Relays for the Sycamores is slated to begin at 6:28 p.m., with Friday's action starting at noon and Saturday's events beginning at 12:40 p.m. Assistant Coach
Erin Reese will also participate in an invitational section of the hammer throw Saturday at 11 a.m.
Competition at the Sycamore Open on Saturday is set to begin at 11 a.m.
Last Time Out
A windy weekend at the Gibson Track and Field Complex was no issue for Indiana State, as the Sycamores won the men's and women's team titles at the Gibson Invitational, sponsored by the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau.
On a weekend where the Sycamores honored their senior class and welcomed alumni back to Terre Haute, Indiana State scored 253 points on the men's side and 191 points on the women's side. Both Sycamore contingents won the team competition convincingly, with DePaul finishing in second on both sides, 142 points behind the ISU men and 45 points behind the Sycamore women.
As a team, Indiana State placed first in 17 events, while also garnering 41 top-three finishes over the course of the weekend. ISU set one meet record, while two Sycamores moved into the top 10 in school history in their respective events –
Quincy Armstrong in the 400m hurdles and
Wyatt Puff in the discus.
Honoring a Legend
One of the all-time Sycamore greats will be honored this weekend, as Aubrey Herring enters the Drake Relays Hall of Fame.
Herring won the university-college 110 hurdles in the 2000 and 2001 Drake Relays and invitational 110 hurdles in 2002. He also anchored Indiana State's shuttle hurdle relay team that set the Drake Relays and Drake Stadium record of 55.06 in 2001. No university-college team has come within a second of that mark since.
Herring becomes the second Sycamore athlete to be inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame, joining Holli Hyche, who was honored in 1999.
Top-10 Trees
Indiana State had a pair of sprinters set high marks at last weekend's Gibson Invitational.
JaVaughn Moore ran a wind-aided time of 10.06 in the 100m (w: +3.9), while
Noah Malone ran a wind-aided 20.34 in the 200m (w: +3.4). Both Sycamores placed first in their respective events.
In addition to the first-place finishes, both Moore and Malone put themselves among the nation's best with their performances. Moore currently ranks fifth in the nation in the 100m, while Malone is 10th in the 200m.
Sycamores in the Rankings
Indiana State currently owns the top mark in the Missouri Valley Conference in 11 different events, with seven of those top marks coming in last week's Gibson Invitational. Included in those marks are sweeps of the top spot in the pole vault (
William Staggs and
Selene Weaver) and triple jump (
Shomari Rogers-Walton and
Ryann Porter). As a team, Indiana State has 30 marks that rank among the top three in the Valley.
In addition to the top conference marks, the Sycamores also currently have 10 marks sitting in NCAA East Region qualifying positions.
JaVaughn Moore (third, 100m),
Noah Malone (seventh, 200m) and Porter (11th, triple jump) lead the way for the Trees, while Rogers-Walton (24th, long jump),
William Staggs (31st, pole vault),
Brett Norton (34th, shot put),
Lawrence Mitchell (41st, high jump),
Quincy Armstrong (43rd, 400m hurdles),
Luigi Rivas (44th, 110m hurdles) and Weaver (46th, pole vault) all occupy qualifying spots for the Sycamores. Moore (fifth), Malone (10th) and Porter (25th) all rank within the top 25 in the nation in their respective events.
As a team, Indiana State is ranked in the Valley on the men's side and second on women's side. The Sycamore men sit eighth in the Great Lakes regional rankings, a two-spot improvement from last week, while ISU's women stood pat at 14th in the region.
The Sycamore men also jumped from being unranked nationally all the way up to 52nd in the nation following a standout showing at the Gibson Invitational.
Moving Up the Ranks
Indiana State's strong 2021-22 season continued to produce record-setting results, highlighted by
Wyatt Puff setting a top-10 mark in the discus for a second consecutive weekend.
Landis Brandon and
Brooklyn Giertz both cracked the top 10 in school history in the pole vault after clearing 3.78m at last weekend's Gibson Invitational, while
Quincy Armstrong had a career-best time of 52.44 in the 400m hurdles to move up to eighth in school history in the event. The men's 4x100m relay team team of
Shomari Rogers-Walton,
JaVaughn Moore,
Tahj Johnson and
Noah Malone tied their mark from Auburn that ranked second in school history (40.25).
As a team, Indiana State has set 18 top-10 marks in school history this outdoor season.
What's On Deck?
Indiana State stays in-state for its final meet before the MVC Championships, as it heads to Bloomington for the Billy Hayes Invitational May 6.
