The former Bloomington High School North standout had just finished a two-day heptathlon with a total of 5561 points — 256 points behind the top heptathlete in IU history, Derek Drouin, in 2013.
Now, Anderson is second in IU history.
“It’s just cool,” Anderson said. “I didn’t go into this meet looking to break the record. I wasn’t plugging in numbers to figure out what I needed to do. I just came in trying to compete hard for these guys.”
This is nothing new for Anderson. The 2015 Gladstein Invitational showed flashes of the 2014 Invitational, where he finished sixth in IU history, along with a personal best of 5,147 points.
“Shot put was our weakest event, and pole vault is something we could all use improvement on,” Anderson said on his 414-point improvement.
Since the 2014 Invitational, Anderson improved his shot put from 12.13 meters to 13.48, and he improved his pole vault from 4.25 meters to 4.80.
The only event that Anderson did not improve upon was the 1,000-meter run, in which he ran two seconds slower than in 2014’s Gladstein Invitational. He won five of the seven events hosted by the heptathlon.
“We would like for them to find one event and be able to compete in that event alone,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “But with 5,500-plus performances, it’s tough to say that. Both Anderson and Keller performed great, so we are very proud of them.”
Junior Stephen Keller, Anderson’s teammate in the heptathlon, also had a historic performance, finishing second in the invitational with 5,437 points, earning him fourth place in IU history.
Keller improved his point total by 357 from the 2014 Invitational, and he drastically improved his shot put throw from 9.83 meters to 12.77 meters.
Both of their marks top the NCAA Division I Heptathlon list, qualifying them for the Indoor Championship on March 13 and 14 and making them the only new Hoosiers to qualify.
Sophomore Michelle Adeniyi also competed in her first pentathlon of the year, finishing fourth with a total of 3,261 points and completing a second-place finish in shot put at 12.04 meters.
Freshman Jill Whitman won the women’s 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:33.08, which placed her second in the Big Ten, and just six spots off the qualifying list. This was only the second time she ran the 3K.
“I just ran like Coach Helmer told me to,” Whitman said. “I honestly had no idea that I would be even close to qualifying. Training with the girls on the team makes a really big difference.”
Other victories for the women included Shawntanay Johnson in the 60-meter dash with 7.68 and Nakel McClinton in the women’s weight throw with 18.70 meters.
Victories for the men included sophomore Tre’tez Kinnaird in the 600-meter run, sophomore Paul Galas in the high jump, and both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter relays.
The Hoosiers host the IU Relays on Friday and Saturday in another two-day meet at Gladstein Fieldhouse.
