Track team finishes top 25 in NCAA championship

IU finished the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship with nine All-Americans and nine top-10 finishes. The men finished with 11 points as a team, taking 20th place, while the women scored 13 points, taking 23rd place.

IU coach Ron Helmer said the team competed well in the championship environment.
“We acted like we belonged there and we performed well under pressure,” he said, “and this is promising.”

Thirteen IU athletes competed in the four-day meet in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake Stadium.

All the IU athletes beat first-day jitters and made it to the finals. The 4x100 meter relay team, composed of freshman Tyler Sult, junior Kind Butler, sophomore Chris Vaughn and senior Devin Pipkin, ran its best time of the season.
They also beat the school record by half a second, posting a time of 39.12. The previous record was set by the last Hoosier group to make it to the NCAA finals in 1992.

By successfully completing the relay in the final, Sult, Butler, Vaughn and Pipkin will also become All-Americans in the event for the first time since 1971.

In the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase, juniors Andrew Poore, De’Sean Turner and Andy Weatherford, also qualified for the finals.

Poore and Turner placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in their heats in 8:44.56 and 8:49.32 and earned automatic qualifications for the final. Weatherford finished seventh in his heat and also qualified with 8:49.34.

Pease punched her ticket to the final on the 3,000 meter steeplechase. She ran a season-best of 10:05.89, finishing eighth in her heat.

The third day, four IU athletes earned All-America honors, and Poore took third place in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

Poore and Turner respectively finished third and sixth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, and senior Vera Neuenswander and sophomore Kelsie Ahbe took fourth and sixth on the pole vault.

In the 3,000 meter steeplechase, Poore took third-place in 8:36.40, his best time in an NCAA meet. Turner finished sixth in 8:39.12. Poore and Turner both beat the best finish ever in the steeplechase by an IU athlete, beating the seventh-place finish by Mark Gibbens in 1968. Weatherford finished 10th in 8:47.72 and earned second-team All-America honors in the event.

In the pole vault, Neuenswander and Ahbe finished fourth and sixth, respectively. They both cleared 4.30 meters. Neuenswander cleared the 4.30 meter bar on her first attempt, while Ahbe cleared it on her third. Ahbe beat her personal record by an inch and a half. Neuenswander and Ahbe are the only two Hoosiers to clear 14 feet and earn All-America honors in the women’s pole vault.

Nine IU athletes competed on the last day of the meet. In the women’s shot put, senior Faith Sherrill took fourth place, equalizing her finish at the indoor championships in March. Sherrill launched a throw of 17.54 meters  on her fifth throw.

With this fourth-place finish, Sherrill is the 17th All-America Hoosier in the history of women’s shot put. Junior Monique Riddick took 21st with a throw of 15.81 meters.

In the final of the men’s 4X100 meter relay, Sult, Butler, Vaughn and Pipkin finished seventh in 39.63, earning All-America honors for the first time since 1971 and for the third time in the event for IU.

In the final of the women’s 3,000 meter steeplechase, senior Sarah Pease finished ninth in 10:11.94 and earned second-team All-America honors.

The last Hoosier athletes represented were Ben Hubers and Poore in the men’s 5,000 meter. Hubers finished ninth and ran his career best with a time of 13:43.06. After taking third place in the 3,000 meter steeplechase on Friday, Poore finished 18th of the 5,000 meter, with a time of 14:02.49.