TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Three Indiana State track and field athletes will compete against the best young talent in North America starting Thursday, as the USATF U20 Championships and Canada U20 Championships get underway.
 
Throwers Ben Brown and Theo Thurmond will represent the Blue and White at the USATF U20 Championships Thursday and Friday in Eugene, Oregon. Hurdler Kieran Barnewall will compete for the Trees at the Canada U20 Championships Saturday in Ottawa, Ontario.
 
Competition Format
The discus at the USATF U20 Championships will be run as one flight on Thursday, with Ben Brown throwing first and Theo Thurmond throwing 16th. All athletes will get three attempts, with the top nine athletes advancing to finals and receiving three additional attempts.
 
The shot put at the USATF U20 Championships is divided into two flights on Friday. Ben Brown is in the first flight of competition, throwing third in that flight. All athletes will get three attempts, with the top nine athletes advancing to finals and receiving three additional attempts.
 
The 110m hurdles at the Canada U20 Championships will feature qualifying, semifinals and finals. Kieran Barnewall's seed time advanced him past qualifying and into Saturday's semifinal round. Heats and lanes for semifinals will be determined after the qualifying round. Barnewall will advance to finals by finishing as one of the two fastest times in his prelim heat or as one of the three fastest times outside of the automatic qualifiers.
 
The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the World Athletics U20 Championships, which take place August 5-9 in Eugene, Oregon, provided that they meet the qualification standard. Athletes who finish third in their events will serve as alternates for their national team for the championships.
 
How They Got Here
Each of Indiana State's three U20 Championships qualifiers scored significant points for the Blue and White at the MVC Outdoor Championships, helping the Trees outscore their pre-championship projection by more than 40 points.
 
Ben Brown, the only athlete of the three to qualify for multiple events at the USATF U20 Championships, booked his place with a top-five finish in the discus at the MVC Championships and a strong shot put performance at the Sycamore Open. Brown's discus mark of 53.06m (174-1) at the MVC Championships was a five-meter PR and gave Indiana State multiple scorers in the event. His shot put mark in the final home meet measured 17.65m (57-11) and represented his best outdoor mark of the season by over a meter. Brown ranked second on the team in both the shot put and discus.
 
Theo Thurmond closed his season in a big way, finishing second at the MVC Championships in the discus and also earning a top-30 finish at the NCAA East First Round in the event. Thurmond already ranks in the top 10 in program history in the discus with his mark of 54.39m (178-5), which earned him runner-up honors at the MVC Championships as a freshman. He was also over the 53-meter mark in the discus at the NCAA East First Round. Thurmond finished the season as the top Sycamore athlete in both the discus and hammer throw.
 
Kieran Barnewall continued Indiana State's Hurdle U legacy by placing second at the MVC Championships and 26th at the NCAA East First Round in the 110m hurdles. Barnewall, the top-ranked hurdles athlete at the Canada U20 Championships, already ranks in the top 10 in program history in the event for all-conditions times and also ranks in the top five among all Canadian-eligible athletes in the event. He owned four of the top six 110m hurdles times in the MVC this season, with a wind-legal best of 13.88 at the NCAA East First Round and an all-conditions best of 13.80 at the MVC Championships. Barnewall, who was part of Indiana State's 110m hurdles podium sweep at the MVC Championships, ranked fourth among all freshmen at the NCAA East First Round.
 
Up Next
Indiana State's international competition cycle continues with the USATF Outdoor Championships July 23-26 in New York City. First Team All-American hurdler Rachel Mehringer, fresh off a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, will represent the Trees in the 100m hurdles.
 
Three-time All-American and 2024 Olympian Erin Reese, a 2019 Indiana State graduate, will compete in the hammer throw at the USATF Championships. Reese will also compete in the hammer at the Prefontaine Classic, one of the premier track and field meets, July 3-4 in Eugene, Oregon.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on the Sycamore Track & Field and Cross Country teams, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.