LEXINGTON, Ky. – Five Indiana State track and field athletes competed among the best talent in Division I Wednesday in the first day of the 2024 NCAA East First Round at the UK Outdoor Track and Field Complex.
 
Elias Foor, Ali Ilupeju, Brett Norton, Shomari Rogers-Walton and Will Staggs took to the field for the Trees on the opening day of competition.
 
Foor opened the day in the hammer throw, placing 36th with a top mark of 59.08m (193-10). His placing marked an improvement on where he was seeded in the event entering the week and gave him positive momentum with one more event still on his schedule for the meet. Norton had all three of his attempts in the shot put go over 17 meters, with his top mark of 17.95m (58-10.75) placing him 26th in the field. Norton's mark also represented an improvement from where he was seeded.
 
Ilupeju and Rogers-Walton both took to the long jump pit Wednesday, with Rogers-Walton posting a top mark of 7.40m (24-03.50) to place 18th, his highest finish at an NCAA East First Round. Ilupeju placed 42nd with a top mark of 6.90m (22-07.75) in his NCAA East First Round debut.
 
Staggs closed out a stellar junior season for the Sycamores with a 16th-place finish in the pole vault, clearing 5.32m (17-05.50) on his third attempt. He cleared marks of 5.20m (17-00.75) or better in every indoor and outdoor meet this season.
 
Two of Indiana State's five athletes who competed Wednesday will also compete later in the week, with Foor (discus) and Rogers-Walton (triple jump) still slated to compete once more this week. Indiana State still has entries in multiple events on each of the next three days.
 
Up Next
Lillian Gibbs, Brooklyn Giertz-Pfaff and Rachel Mehringer compete for Indiana State on the second day of the NCAA East First Round Thursday, with start times for all each of their events moved up due to impending weather. Gibbs is slated to compete in the javelin at 11:30 a.m.,  Giertz-Pfaff will compete in the pole vault at noon and Mehringer is slated to run in the 100m hurdles at 3 p.m.
 
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