Indiana track and field held its annual Gladstein Invitational, an indoor meet on Friday. Nine schools and unattached athletes competed in a multitude of track and field events. Friday’s events included long-distance runs, hurdles and an indoor-only weight throw event.
The Hoosiers started the competition on the women’s side with junior Serena Bolden winning the triple jump with a length of 12.21 meters and junior Jessica Mercier vaulting with a height of 4.13 meters. This is not only her season best in the pole vault event but also seventh-best in program history.
During the men’s round, freshman Andrew Anderson finished in second place in his 400-meter sprint heat, with his time of 51.04 seconds just missing out on the top spot by 0.03 seconds. Junior David Olowookere and freshman Jaylen Grimes took first and second in their fast final heat of the 400meter, posting 49.01 and 50.29 respectively.
In the men’s 20 lb. weight throw, the Hoosiers narrowly missed out on the top three sweeps. Junior Noah Koch took first 20.05 meters, junior Hunter Smith took third and freshman Tyler Reyna fourth.
In the 60-meter hurdle finals, freshman John Colquitt took home first and set a season-best of 8.27 seconds. Junior Antonio Laidler won the final and barely missed his personal best of 6.74, running in 6.83 seconds.
Meanwhile, junior pole vaulter Nathan Stone had a meet-best vault of 5.35 meters.
In the women’s mile final, Indiana had five out of the top 15 finishers with sophomore Phoebe Bates placing third with a time of 4:54.41 and sophomore Mikaela Ramirez placing fourth with a time of 5:04.06 to finish out the day for Indiana.
Indiana is back in action Saturday, Jan. 21, for the second day of its Gladstein Invitational in Bloomington.
