The Hoosiers opened the outdoor season at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina hosted by NC State University this past weekend. Both men’s and women’s teams are represented by track events only, as the field teams open their season in the upcoming weeks.
With the switch from indoor to outdoor comes new events including the 100-meter dash, 400-meter hurdles and long-distance races.
Graduate student Jake Gebhardt opened the meet for the Hoosiers in the 5,000-meter race. Gebhardt placed second in the event with 13:37.70 seconds, a personal best and fourth-best time in program history. Junior Gabriel Sanchez placed 34th with a personal best of 14:03.98.
Closing out day one, sophomore Claire Overfelt competed in the 10,000-meter race for the first time in her career. Claire set a personal best of 35:32.98 seconds and placed 22nd.
Day two started with freshman John Colquitt in the 110-meter hurdles. Colquitt grabbed 23rd place with a personal best time of 14.96 seconds. In the 100-meter dash freshman, Ray Brodie made his outdoor debut and ran a time of 11.00 seconds.
The Hoosiers were well-represented in the 400-meter races. On the women’s side, senior Alyssa Robinson placed 13th with a time of 54.87 seconds. On the men’s side four runners placed in the top 50, led by senior Shaton Vaughn placing 22nd with a time of 48.57 seconds. Senior Antonio Laidler ran a personal best time of 48.85 seconds and placed 30th in the event.
Finishing out night two in the women's 5,000-meter race, graduate student Sarah Schmitt ran a time of 16:11.98, placing 18th on the night.
On day three, the meet started with Vaughn placing fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.59 seconds. Colquitt ran a personal best in the event of 55.33 seconds. Senior Parker Raymond ran a personal best of 1:49.45 seconds in the 800-meter race.
The Hoosiers closed out the meet in the men’s and women’s 4x400-meter relays. The women’s relay team placed 18th with a time of 3:48.71. On the men’s side, the “A” relay team placed sixth with a time of 3:13.79 seconds, and the “B” team ran a time of 3:21.39 seconds.
The Hoosiers travel to the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville Florida on March 31. Pole Vault, jump and throwing athletes will all make their outdoor season debuts at the relays, and track athletes from this weekend's meet will be joining them in Florida.
