BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Indianapolis, Ind. – The Vincennes University indoor Track and Field season is beginning to come to an end as the Trailblazers took part in the Hoosier Hills Invite at Indiana University Friday and the Jerry England Invite at UIndy on Saturday.
The VU men's indoor team comes into this weekend ranked No. 19 in this week's USTFCCCA National rankings and looked to solidify themselves with more National qualifiers this weekend.
VU was led off by a first place finish by freshman Desroy Jordan (Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) in the 400 meter dash. Jordan crossed the line at 49.01 seconds, outlasting a field of several NCAA Division I runners.
VU's next best placement Friday came in the mile where sophomore Mathew Keitany (Kenya) and freshman Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) battled each other with Keitany coming away with the fifth-place finish at 4:17.19 and Stanford placing sixth at 4:18.21.
Sophomore Trent Faulkner (Wheatland, Ind.) placed sixth in the 800 meters, crossing the line at 1:59.19 and sophomore Ian Boit (Kimilili, Kenya) rounded out the VU men's results Friday with a 20th-place finish in the 3000 meters with a time of 8:59.33.
Members of the VU women's indoor Track and Field team also competed Friday, highlighted by sophomore Brittany Page (Freelandville, Ind.) who placed 11th in the 800 meters at 2:31.44.
Freshman Daisie Kinnett (Wheatland, Ind.) also had a great showing Friday by placing 14th in the 3000 meters with a final time of 11:14.49.
"It was a very successful weekend for our track teams," VU Track and Field Head Coach Marty Rogier said. "We had numerous personal bests and also qualified for Nationals in seven more events, raising our total to 15 overall for the program."
"Desroy got us going Friday at IU with a fast 400, easily running down the field," Rogier added. "He has a very fast race in his future. I'm excited to see what he might do."
"Mathew and Isaac both performed great in the mile," VU Assistant Track and Field Coach Tyler Steigenga said. "Isaac led almost all of his race until the last lap. No one was willing to push the pace up front, so he went to the lead and pushed to get his National Qualifying time of 4:18.21. He wanted to be a little faster to get in the best heat at Nationals, but it's hard to run that time alone. I'm proud of what he did. Most runners would play it safe and sit back. But Isaac is a competitor and he went for it."
"In the next heat Mathew ran 4:17.19 to get his first individual National Qualifying mark of the season," Steigenga added. "Mathew has had some good races this indoor season, but not quite where I know he can be. Today he finally ran the kind of race that shows a glimpse of how good he can be at the National meet."
"In the 3000 meters, Daisie ran a 14 second PR and Ian snuck under the nine minute barrier," Steigenga said. "Ian looked the best he ever has in a race. He ran a very even and smart race and after falling off a little during the two laps before the bell lap, he managed to close in 34 seconds and run an eight second PR."
Members of the VU Track and Field teams then wanted to finish out the weekend strong Saturday afternoon at the Jerry England Invite hosted by the University of Indianapolis.
The Trailblazers men's team was led off by a strong showing in the 800 meters with Desroy Jordan taking second and Mathew Keitany placing third. Jordan finished at 1:58.18 and Keitany was close behind at 1:58.56.
Sophomore Ernest Momodu (Indianapolis, Ind.) also competed in the 800 meters, placing 14th with a time of 2:09.16. Momodu would also take home a fourth-place finish in the mile with a time of 4:34.60.
Sophomore Reed Lawless (Kouts, Ind.) closed out the VU men's runners by finishing 11th in the 3000 meters with a time of 9:31.82.
Freshman Olegs Kozjakovs (Riga, Latvia) led the VU men's field events Saturday, placing third in the Pole Vault after reaching a height of 4.60 meters.
Sophomore throwers Mason Harmes (Borden, Ind.) and David Beadle (Jamaica) placed well in the shot put and weight throw Saturday as well.
Harmes took home 13th place in the shot put at 12.42 meters and seventh in the weight throw at 15.44 meters.
Beadle placed 14th in the shot put at 11.85 meters and 10th in the weight throw with a final distance of 12.17 meters.
Freshman Haley Kohlhouse (Bruceville, Ind.) hit the track Saturday for the VU women's team, placing 30th in the 60 meter sprint with a time of 8.78 seconds, before finishing her day in the 200 meters with a time of 29.47 seconds, good for 27th.
Freshman Ysnaira Dos Santos Viera (Brazil) led off the VU women's field events with a seventh-place finish in the Pole Vault with a height of 3.38 meters.
Freshman Madison Davis (Chesterton, Ind.) rounded out the weekend for the VU women's team with a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a final throw of 11.99 meters.
"Saturday at UIndy we got a couple more qualifiers in the Pole Vault," Rogier said. "Ysnaira competed in her first meet of the season because of an injury and easily qualified and is sixth in the NJCAA rankings. She joined Julia, who is fourth in the National Rankings. Once she gets healthy and understands a new system of jumping, she could go very high."
"Olegs followed the ladies with a great performance," Rogier added. "Olegs is our multi-athlete and has really only been vaulting since he arrived at VU in January. He cleared 4.60 meters, ranking him fifth in the pole vault as well as being 10th in the Heptathlon. I'm really excited to see how he will do in both at Nationals. He understands all of the events better than any athlete I have ever coached. Madison Davis also returned from an injury and had a very good performance in the shot put and is just short of qualifying."
"Ernest got the distance squad off to a great start with a three second PR in the mile," Steigenga said. "In the 800 meters Desroy and Mathew both got individual qualifiers. Their times when taken as a composite with Trent's and Isaac's from earlier meets helped us qualify for the 4x800 relay and should qualify us for the fast heat at Nationals."
"The meet ended with the 3000 meters where Reed ran his best race of the season and missed his PR by a second," Steigenga added. "In the second heat, Griffin ran a great race and finished with a 24-second PR."
The VU Indoor Track and Field season will come to a close next Saturday, Feb. 18, when the Trailblazers travel to Indiana State University for the Indiana State Open in Terre Haute.
This will be the final opportunity for some of VU's athletes to qualify for the NJCAA Indoor Nationals which will be hosted in Topeka, Kan. March 3rd through the 4th.
"We mention rankings a lot because we do not compete in a Region or Conference like our other teams at VU," Rogier said. "We can only grade ourselves against the best in the country. So we compete against Division I and Division II teams to help meet that goal."
"We close out the regular Indoor season at Indiana State next weekend where we hope to obtain a couple more qualifiers before heading to the National Championships," Rogier added.
VINCENNES RESULTS
FRIDAY RESULTS
MEN'S RESULTS
400m
Desroy Jordan – 1, 49.01
800m
Trent Faulkner – 6, 1:59.19
Mile
Mathew Keitany – 5, 4:17.19
Isaac Stanford – 6, 4:18.21
3000m
Ian Boit – 20, 8:59.33
WOMEN'S RESULTS
Brittany Page – 11, 2:31.44
3000m
Daisie Kinnett – 14, 11:14.49
SATURDAY RESULTS
MEN'S RESULTS
800m
Desroy Jordan – 2, 1:58.18
Mathew Keitany – 3, 1:58.56
Ernest Momodu – 14, 2:09.16
Mile
Ernest Momodu – 4, 4:34.60
3000m
Reed Lawless – 11, 9:31.82
Pole Vault
Olegs Kozjakovs – 3, 4.60m
Shot Put
Mason Harmes – 13, 12.42m
David Beadle – 14, 11.85m
Weight Throw
Mason Harmes – 7, 15.44m
David Beadle – 10, 12.17m
WOMEN'S RESULTS
60m
Haley Kohlhouse – 30, 8.78
200m
Haley Kohlhouse – 27, 29.47
Pole Vault
Ysnaira Dos Santos Viera – 7, 3.38m
Shot Put
Madison Davis – 4, 11.99m