Lucky 13 track and field athletes qualify for NCAAs

Throughout the three-day competition in the NCAA East Preliminary Round from May 26 to 28, at IU’s Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, a total of 13 IU track and field athletes qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

The championships will take place from June 8 to 11 in Des Moines, Iowa.

“Overall, every athlete that we had that I thought had a chance to score the national championships finals advanced,” IU coach Ron Helmer said. “We did not get any surprises, but the top-level athletes that we have are rock-solid. They did a great job, and I think we are set up to do well at the national championships.”

Women’s shot put throwers, senior Faith Sherrill and junior Monique Riddick, and pole vaulters, senior Vera Neuenswander and sophomore Kelsie Ahbe, were the Hoosiers’ first national qualifiers.

Sherrill was the top-ranked East thrower entering the prelims, and she upheld her status by winning the competition with a 17.51-meter toss. Teammate Riddick placed 12th with a 16.24-meter toss.

In the pole vault competition, Neuenswander cleared both 3.85- and 4.00-meter heights while Ahbe cleared the latter. Neuenswander and Ahbe became IU’s first pole vault duo to reach the NCAAs in the same season.

The Hoosiers scored qualifications on the track as well. Four IU athletes placed in the top-four of their respective 3,000-meter steeplechase heat to punch tickets to Iowa.

Junior De’Sean Turner won the third men’s heat in 8:39.40, scoring the third-best time in IU history.

Turner’s teammates, juniors Andrew Poore and Andy Weatherford, also advanced to the NCAAs. Poore placed second in the first men’s heat, running in 8:51.32 while Weatherford finished fourth in the second  heat with a time of 8:46.62.

On the women’s side, senior Sarah Pease also qualified for the national meet, finishing third in her heat with a time of 10:09.14.

Senior Devin Pipkin was unable to qualify in the men’s 100-meter event, but bounced back with freshman Tyler Sult, junior Kind Butler and sophomore Chris Vaughn in the men’s 4x100-meter relay.

The quartet finished first in its heat and ran its best time of the season, posting a time of 39.68 seconds. The time is just .06 second behind the school record.

By winning their heat, the team became the first IU squad to qualify for the NCAAs since 1992.

“This is an indescribable feeling,” Butler said. “We worked so hard for this. It’s like waking up Christmas morning and expecting a present.”

IU associate coach Jeff Huntoon has seen constant effort and support in his national-qualifying team on a daily basis.

“This is a group that just stuck together from day one,” Huntoon said. “They never had any downs with one another, and they’ve just been so supportive with one another. Collectively, they’ve all done the job and they did it so well and before you know it, you get something like that.”

Juniors Poore and Ben Hubers were the last Hoosier athletes to make the NCAAs.
Hubers and Poore placed fourth and fifth in their men’s 5,000-meter heat, earning an automatic qualification. Hubers finished in 14:08.30 and Poore in 14:09.37 to advance to the national championships for the second straight year.

“I felt like there was a little pressure on me today because we had three steeplechasers qualified last night, and I was getting really excited and it was my turn,” Hubers said. “I was a little nervous, but I wasn’t really worried about today, I was just trying to relax; I knew if I raced like I’ve been racing all year, that would do the job.”

Both Hubers and Poore agreed they had been working toward this goal ever since they arrived at IU.

“I think it’s the kind of program we’ve been striving to have since we both came here,” Hubers said. “I came to IU because I knew we had a bunch of really strong recruits in my class. We’ve been saying for years we’ve got a lot of potential, we’re going to be good, and I think hard work is finally starting to pay off.”

After a weekend of qualifications, Helmer and the team are looking forward to the NCAA meet.

“We pride ourselves at being as good away from home as we are at home, and I think we are,” Helmer said. “It was great to be able to do this at home and in front of our crowd, and our athletes performed well, so they took advantage of the positives that are here for us and made it a good weekend for us.”