The Hoosiers had a host of individual successes this weekend in both the track and field events at the Tennessee Relays in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Senior Sydney Clute took first in the pole vault. She cleared 4.40 meters, which beat out former Hoosier athlete and 2016 Olympic participant Kelsie Ahbe, who finished second. Clute has Olympic goals, which IU Coach Ron Helmer says are very realistic.
“I’m glad she has that on her list of things to do,” Helmer said. “Her personal record of 4.55 meters is higher than the Olympic standard, but she still has to be one of the top three American pole vaulters. She has to continue to get better, and I believe she will do so.”
This weekend a new team for the women’s distance medley relay took the track. The team consisted of junior Katherine Receveur, junior Kendell Wiles, sophomore Kelsey Harris and junior Corinne Cominator.
Of those, only Receveur was on the original distance medley relay team that competed in the NCAA Indoor Championship meet earlier this season. The new version of the distance medley relay team took first this weekend in Tennessee, with a time of 11:26.60.
“We won the distance medley with Receveur leading it off instead of being the anchor like she has been in the past,” Helmer said. “This team was a good combination, and we did everything we could with this group to beat as many people as possible and ultimately we did.”
In the women’s 1,500-meter run, Receveur took silver with a time of 4:21.51. Junior Brenna Calder was right behind and finished in 4:21.54.
In the sprint medley relay, the women’s team of senior Ari Nelson, sophomore Riley Egbula, senior Mackenzie Bollinger and junior Brenna Calder finished third with a mark of 3:56.29.
The women’s 4x800-meter relay team captured fourth place with a time of 8:49.89. Sophomore Haley Harris led off the race before giving way to sophomore Maggie Allen. Receveur handled the third leg, and senior Olivia Hippensteel was the team’s anchor.
As for the rest of the field events, senior Nakel McClinton took fourth place in the women’s hammer throw and cleared 58.09 meters. Teammate sophomore Nycia Ford took 11th in the event with a toss of 50.96 meters.
In the shot put freshman Khayla Dawson took sixth by clearing 15.32 meters. Ford finished eighth with a toss of 14.02 meters.
After this weekend’s competition, Helmer said the team is just looking to improve every week.
“We want to get some work done, we want everyone to get better, and certainly it was a good meet,” Helmer said.
