Hoosiers send 16 athletes to NCAA Championships

The IU men’s and women’s track and field teams are sending a combined total of 16 athletes to the NCAA Championships after competing May 24-26 in the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla.

“Our goal going in was to just keep advancing,” IU Head Coach Ron Helmer said. “While we had some disappointments, at the end of the day we had some efforts and performances that sets us up pretty well for the next round and allow us to score some points.”

The championships are in Des Moines, Iowa, June 6 through 9.

Day one of the East Prelims concluded with two Hoosiers earning the chance to move on to the NCAAs.

Sophomore Kyla Buckley, a transfer from University of Miami, was one of two females that advanced. She finished 11th in the shot put with a throw of 15.84 meters and became the fifth Hoosier woman in four years to make it to the shot put championships.

Zach Mayhew advanced in the 10,000-meter by placing 10th  with a time of 30:26.10.

“There was a lot of tactical racing going, and I would get to the front and kept getting shuffled to the back,” Mayhew said. “It was taxing mentally, I was really happy to get 10th and to move on and be done with it.”

On day two, six more Hoosiers punched their tickets to Des Moines.

Adrien Dannemiller, Andrew Poore and De’Sean Turner moved on in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the second consecutive year three Hoosier men advance to the steeplechase championships.

Dannemiller, a senior, ran the fastest time among Hoosiers at 8:42.98, good for fourth in his heat and tenth overall. Turner placed third in his heat and ninth overall with a time of 8:44.22, while Poore was second in his heat and sixth overall with 8:43.88.

Two Hoosier triple jumpers moved on with top-10 finishes. Seniors, Rex Parker and Olu Olamigoke, jumped 15.70 and 15.58 meters, respectively. Parker’s jump bested his previous long by six inches.

Junior high jumper Emma Kimoto advanced with a collegiate best jump of 1.81 meters.

On the final day of competition, five individual athletes and a relay team advanced.
Redshirt Junior Andy Bayer is a three time All-American for the indoor 1500-meter and inched closer to earning that recognition in the outdoor event Saturday, running a 3:45.44.

“I found myself in the lead,” Bayer said in an interview posted on flotrack.org. “I didn’t want to push it so I relaxed. With 150 [meters] to go ... coming down the stretch I opened it up and it felt good.”

In the 200-meter, Kind Butler  finished second in his heat and fourth overall with a time of 20.36 seconds.

Running with Nick Stoner, Chris Vaughn and Tyler Sult, Butler anchored the 4x400-meter relay team that advanced to the national meet with a time of 3:06.48, good for third place in its heat. Butler came from behind and dove forward to edge out North Carolina by one-tenth of a second.

“It was instinct taking over because he came from way back knowing he needed the third place for the automatic qualifying spot,” Helmer said. “It is the kind of effort we got from a number of people and the effort we have gotten from Kind all year long.”

Redshirt junior Derek Drouin and sophomore Darius King both cleared 2.19 meters in the high jump to qualify for the finals.

Drouin will be attempting to capture his fourth NCAA title. King looks to improve one spot after finishing runner-up in the indoor championship earlier this year.

Despite having the 47th seed time out of 48 runners, Ben Hubers ran the second fastest time of 14:17.59 when it counted most. His time secured his spot in the outdoor finals for the third straight year.

Overall, the Hoosier men have built upon their strong performances in Big Ten meets, having won the Big Ten Indoor Title and finishing third at the Big Ten Outdoor
Championships.

“We rode that high from the Big Ten Indoor meet for a while,” Helmer said. “We created some momentum at the Big Ten Outdoors, I feel going into this meet (NCAA Championships) we are in many places just starting to get that energy back and that focus back to compete at a high level.”