The Indiana women’s track and field team competed in the Big Ten Championships over the weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Hoosiers tallied 34 points, finishing 10th out of 13 teams.
A trio of Hoosiers reached the podium in their respective events on Friday during the preliminary rounds. Senior Hannah Stoffel’s time of 4:23.13 and senior Anna Watson’s throw of 4.18 meters earned both of them fifth-place finishes in the 1500-meter race and pole vault, respectively. Stoffel secured an automatic spot in Sunday’s final 1500 meter race with her time on Friday .
Freshman Makayla Hunter grabbed seventh place in javelin with a throw of 41.96 meters, earning her first podium appearance of both the season and her career.
During the second day of preliminaries, Stoffel also sealed her spot in the 800-meter race finals with a time of 2:09.16. Still, Indiana’s most high-scoring performance came from a field athlete.
Freshman Jayden Ulrich took home the Big Ten gold medal in discus. The winning throw of 59.01 meters came on her last attempt of the day and is a new personal best for the freshman.
Senior Paola Fernandez-Sola earned another medal for the Hoosiers, winning bronze in long jump. Fernandez-Sola’s best jump was 6.09 meters.
Multiple Hoosiers delivered podium-worthy performances on the last day of competition. Stoffel was the lone previous qualifier, with Ulrich, sophomore Mahogany Jenkins and senior Maddy Pollard all participating in field events that did not require preliminary rounds.
Stoffel made the podium in both of her running events. She placed eighth in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:10.07 and seventh in the 1500-meter race with a time of 4:25.64.
Jenkins leapt to an eighth-place finish in triple jump. Her best jump on Sunday was 12.48 meters.
Ulrich and Pollard competed in shot put, with the former finishing seventh and the latter finishing fourth. Pollard’s top throw was 16.96 meters, and Ulrich’s was 16.54 meters.
Indiana’s 34 points over the weekend edged them into a top-10 team finish, surmounting Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland. Next up, Hoosier athletes will await invitations to the NCAA East Preliminary Round. Indiana is slated to host the NCAA preliminaries in Bloomington from May 25-28.
