Despite sending a group of only nine athletes to the three-day Clark Woods Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky, Indiana track and field still had a successful weekend. Six of the nine athletes finished in the top 10 of their events, and three athletes finished in the top five of their events.
The meet started with pole vault, which saw freshman Kailen Kramer finish ninth in the women’s competition with a mark of 3.82 meters. The men’s competition saw senior Tyler Carrel place fifth with a mark of 5.22 meters, followed by freshman Lukas Brauc in eighth, who had a season-best performance of 5.07 meters.
Junior decathlete Max Grangier competed in 10 events and placed in the top seven for all of them.
On Thursday, Grangier placed third in the decathlon long jump with a mark of 6.91 meters. Then he placed fifth and seventh in the decathlon shot put and high jump with marks of 11.47 meters and 1.79 meters, respectively.
Additionally, he placed fourth in the decathlon 100-meter dash with a time of 10.91 seconds, and third in the decathlon 400-meter dash with a personal best of 49.40 seconds.
He continued to perform well on the second day, placing fourth in both the decathlon pole vault and decathlon discus. He earned his first of two wins in the decathlon javelin throw with a mark of 48.82 meters.
Grangier placed seventh in the decathlon 110-meter hurdles and finished out his day with another win in the decathlon 1,500-meter run, finishing in 4 minutes, 22.05 seconds.
Two Hoosiers competed in the women’s heptathlon. First, sophomore Elle Knepp finished ninth in three of her four events, securing personal bests in the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles and the heptathlon shot put.
Freshman Chayla Rakin competed in multiple events for the women’s heptathlon. She finished second in the high jump with a mark of 1.69 meters. She also finished fourth in both the 800-meter run and long jump. Rakin had a personal best in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 25.68 seconds.
The Hoosiers now look forward to the Jesse Owens Invitational in Columbus, Ohio, on May 1-2.
