Indiana track and field raced its busiest weekend of the season, splitting the team into three groups to compete at the Wake Forest Invitational on Thursday and Friday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and at the Tom Jones Memorial and Gibson Invitational on April 17-18, and Friday and Saturday in Gainesville, Florida, and Terre Haute, Indiana, respectively.
Overall, the Hoosiers finished the weekend with eight wins across multiple different events.
Starting on Thursday, the women’s 800-meter run saw three Hoosiers podium in their heats. Freshman Ciara Kepner won the sixth heat in 2 minutes, 10.17 seconds. Sophomores Catie McCabe and Nola Somers Glen placed second in their heats with respective times of 2:11.10 and 2:07.23, respectively.
The Hoosiers took home a pair of wins on the men’s side. Freshman D’Angelo Brown won the first heat in 1:48.68, a new personal best that places him at 60th in the NCAA for the event. Senior Camden Marshall ran a time of 1:45.72, winning the third heat and ranking him ninth in the nation. Junior Andrew Mangum followed in sixth in 1:47.87, now 60th in the NCAA.
Two Hoosiers set personal bests in the women’s 1,500-meter. Sophomore Joey Rastrelli placed fifth in the first heat with 4:24.46, and junior Lily Myers finished ninth in the fifth heat in 4:19.09.
The women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase saw sophomore Michaela Quinn finish second in 10:19.714, barely beating out University of Miami junior Maddie Scheier by three thousandths of a second.
Thursday’s competition ended with a third-place finish in the women’s 5,000-meter run from senior Claire Overfelt with a personal best of 16:09.44.
As the Wake Forest Invitational ended, the Tom Jones Memorial and Gibson Invitationals started Friday in Gainesville and Terre Haute.
In Gainesville, senior Trelee Banks-Rose placed 10th in the men’s 200-meter dash invite with a time of 20.66 seconds, aided by an illegal 2.7 meters-per-second tailwind.
Junior Lee Martin placed third in the men’s high jump with a final mark of 2.09 meters, tying three other athletes.
In the men’s long jump, senior Alex Smith placed fourth overall with a mark of 7.45 meters.
On Saturday, Indiana continued to get competitive finishes, starting with sophomore Kiera Davis finishing eighth in the women’s 400-meter dash with a final time of 53.38 seconds.
Freshman Kaselle Davis finished eighth in the women’s high jump with a final mark of 1.66 meters, giving the Hoosiers another top-10 placement at the meet.
The women’s 800-meter invite saw sophomore Veronica Hargrave go under two minutes for the first time this season, finishing with a time of 1:59.79. This time ranks her as the third-fastest runner in the NCAA for this event.
The Hoosiers closed out the meet running the 4x400-meter relay. The women’s team of Davis, Hargrave, junior Katelyn Henselmeier and freshman Ava Olomajeye finished 19th with a time of 3:37.29. The men’s team of senior Novo Onovwerosuoke, freshman Kalen Sargent, sophomore Cameron Mullins and sophomore Daquan Tate finished 16th with a time of 3:10.02.
Indiana’s field crew shined at the Gibson Invitational with nine athletes finishing in the top five of their events and three athletes earning first place.
Sophomore Seth Brosseau won the men’s hammer throw with a new personal best of 56.16 meters. He also competed in the men’s shot-put invite, throwing the 16-pound weight 16.63 meters for eighth place.
Freshman Michael Neuenroth finished third in the men’s hammer throw invite, throwing 62.73 meters. The distance set a new personal best and ranked him 73rd in the NCAA.
Junior Bridget Beyer competed in the women’s hammer throw invite, finishing fifth with a personal best throw of 57.97 meters.
Senior Makayla Hunter took home two victories in her events, winning both the women’s shot-put invite and women’s hammer throw with respective marks of 16.72 meters and a personal best 55.03 meters.
Sophomore Dalton Boisseau won the men’s javelin with a throw of 66.20 meters. Freshman Rocklan Boisseau finished close behind in third place with a throw of 57.00 meters.
Freshman Emma Gardner secured a new personal best in the women’s discus, throwing 43.73 meters for third place.
The Hoosiers did not have many athletes competing on the track, but the meet was highlighted by senior Kylee Poulton running the women’s 400-meter dash with a new season best time of 57.28 seconds, earning her eighth place.
After a busy and successful weekend, Indiana track and field looks ahead to the Jesse Owens Invitational on May 1-2 in Columbus.
