ST. LOUIS – Indiana State assistant track and field coach Brandan Bettenhausen was selected as the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Indoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday morning.
 
Bettenhausen, who is in his ninth season coaching the Sycamores' throwers, coached three all-conference honorees at the 2026 MVC Indoor Championships. The Sycamore throwers scored 45 points between the shot put (21) and weight throw (24), outscoring six entire team totals, and Bettenhausen had each of his five athletes score points at the MVC Indoor Championships.
 
Aliseonna Garnett was responsible for 18 points on her own at the MVC Indoor Championships, with her career-best and top-40 national mark of 16.32m (53-6.5) in the shot put earning first place and her toss of 19.67m (64-6.5) in the weight throw placing second. Niesha Anderson also earned all-conference accolades in the weight throw, placing third with a mark of 19.51m (64-0.25).
 
Anderson also placed in the top five in the shot put with a mark of 14.04m (46-0.75) and was one of three Sycamores in the top five in the event, alongside Garnett and Olivia Marshall (14.01m/45-11.75). Marshall, who also placed sixth in the weight throw (17.98m/59-0), was named the MVC's Elite 18 Award winner as the highest GPA among finalists at the conference championships.
 
Also scoring in both throws events under Bettenhausen's tutelage was Emma Yoder, who placed fourth in the weight throw (18.62m/61-1.25) and seventh in the shot put (13.74m/45-1). Cora Williams added a seventh-place finish in the weight throw (17.92m/58-9.5) in her first MVC Championship appearance.
 
Tuesday's honor is the second MVC Assistant Coach of the Year award for Bettenhausen, who was previously named 2024 MVC Men's Outdoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year.
 
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