IU Track and Field athletes were in action around the country on Friday. The 5000m runners competed in Palo Alto, Calif. at the Stanford Relays while several field athletes took on competition in Austin, Texas at the Texas Relays.
In what is annually one of the most competitive environments for distance runners, IU was represented by eleven different runners on Friday night, all competing in the 5000m run.
Leading the way for the Hoosiers was senior Andy Bayer, who finished third with a time of 13:34.82. Fellow senior Zach Mayhew was the next Hoosier to cross the line, posting a time of 13:41.95. That was good enough for eighth place at the event.
Coming from all the way back in the third heat of the men's 5000m was junior Robby Nierman. He finished eighth in his heat with a time of 14:10.83.
In the women's 5000m, sophomore Samantha Ginther finished 11th with a time of 16:15.34. Next across the line was her was her teammate, senior Kelsey Duerksen at 16:18.24. Those times rank third and sixth, respectively, in IU history.
A few hundred miles away in Texas, IU junior Kyla Buckley kept rolling with the momentum she gathered during indoor season after winning the Big Ten title in the shot put. Buckley won the Texas Relays event with a monster heave of 17.28m (56-8.5). That distance is good for second in Division One this year and best in the Big Ten. It also was the third farthest throw in IU history.
The only other IU win from Friday came when freshman Sarah Maxson won her B section of the women's high jump with a final height of 1.75m. This was her first collegiate outdoor meet and she bettered her lifetime best by 1.5 inches. With almost four more years of potential IU eligibility, Maxson has plenty of room to move even further up the IU record books than where she sits now in sixth.
Freshman pole vaulter Sydney Clute also competed at Texas, taking sixth in the B section with a height of 3.86m. Her miss on her first attempt at 3.71m came back to haunt her, as that knocked her out of a three-way tie for fourth.
Saturday will see the end of a five day stint where IU Track and Field was competing at least one place in the country. The senior high jumpers Derek Drouin and Emma Kimoto will take on the field in Austin. Drouin will compete in the afternoon session and the evening session will see Kimoto's event.
