IU Junior Andy Bayer wins 1,500m NCAA title

Andy Bayer won the 1,500-meter race at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, giving him his first NCAA title and making him the first outdoor champion from Indiana University since 1993.

Bayer finished the race in 3:43.82, crowning him the champion against Brigham Young University’s Miles Batty by just .01 seconds.

“This is what I’m going for at every NCAA meet,” Bayer said. “I was set up well with 200 meters to go and I thought, ‘I’m not going to let this go, I’m going to fight to the end,’ and it worked out.”

Bayer’s total of 44 points at NCAA meets ranks fifth in IU history.

De’Sean Turner took seventh place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:46.04 to become the only Hoosier to earn three First Team All-American honors in the event.

Turner missed placing in the top six by just .03 seconds. For his career, Turner has earned First Team All-American honors six times.

The two athletes helped IU place 11th with 20 points, the Hoosier men’s best outdoor finish since 1993.

Adrien Dannemiller took ninth place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a finish of 8:47.86, and Andrew Poore took 14th with 9:25.95. Both athletes received Second Team All-American honors.

Day 3: Two Hoosiers named All-Americans in first appearance at NCAA Championships.

The third day of the NCAA Track and Field Championships ended with four Hoosiers claiming All-American honors.

Kyla Buckley was named Second Team All-American for her ninth-place finish in the women’s shot put and joins Emma Kimoto (high jump) and Rex Parker and Olu
Olamigoke (triple jump) on the Second Team. 

Buckley recorded a career-best shot put throw of 16.98 meters to earn the recognition in her first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

Kimoto cleared 1.79 meters for 13th in the high jump. The junior had just one miss as the bar moved up to 1.79 meter. She was on her way to set a new IU record but was unable to clear 1.83 meters in her first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

The Hoosier men, meanwhile, claimed 13th and 14th in the triple jump. Parker jumped 15.67 meters, and Olamigoke jumped 15.64 meters. 

In the men’s 5,000-meter race, Ben Hubers placed 19th with a time of 14:13.80. He finished just five seconds behind 16th place and earning All-America honors.

At the end of the third day, IU’s men found themselves in 25th place with eight points.

Day 2 — Olympic qualifier Drouin takes second in high jump

Derek Drouin put IU on the board with his second-place finish in the high jump.

The junior cleared 2.31 meters without a miss and left IU tied for 11th with eight points at the end of day two.

Drouin now has five top-two finishes at NCAA meets in his career. In 2009, Drouin was the national indoor runner-up and won three straight NCAA titles from 2010-11.

Bayer qualified for the 1,500-meter final, while Poore, Dannemiller and Turner secured their spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final.

Bayer finished with a career-best time of 3:39.95 for second in his heat and eighth fastest in IU history. 

“I felt so relaxed, really good, just made sure I was in the top five that last hundred,” Bayer said. “I was kind of boxed in, so I just made sure that I could kind of sneak through. But I felt good.

“I felt like I could’ve won the race if I needed to, and I’m feeling really good going into the final.”

Poore automatically advanced to the finals by finishing fifth in the first heat with a time of 8:42.17. Dannemiller placed seventh in the second heat with a time of 8:42.17, and Turner placed ninth at 8:44.99 to clinch the last spot in the final.

It is the second straight year three Hoosier steeplechase runners have advanced to the national final.

Kind Butler ran the 200-meter race in 20.57 seconds in the third heat but did not qualify, even though his time was faster than three runners who automatically qualified in earlier heats.

Butler’s time would have won the second heat. Ameer Webb (Texas A&M) and Horatio Williams (Florida State) qualified for the final with times of 20.59 and 20.69 seconds, respectively.

The Hoosier men’s 4x400-meter relay team took 18th place in preliminary action with a time of 3:06.98. Butler, anchor of the relay, had a split of 44.58.

Day 1 — Mayhew earns first All-American honors

Redshirt junior distance runner Zach Mayhew placed 14th in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 29:43.79 Wednesday.

With the finish, Mayhew earned Second Team All-American honors, the first All-American honors of his career, and shaved off nearly a minute from his preliminary qualifying time.

His first appearance at the NCAA Championships was grueling, as he fought to stay with the pack. Mayhew was only 22 seconds off a top-10 finish.

Fifteen other Hoosiers (13 men and two women) joined Mayhew in competition at the championships.