IU Track and Field competed in its final home meet of the indoor season on Friday in the Hoosier Hills Invitational. The team boasted many athletes setting season bests and personal records.
“This is the time of year when you’re supposed to start to look like you’ve been training all year long, and you’ve got your racing legs, and you’re starting to sharpen up a bit,” IU Coach Ron Helmer said. “We had 33 performances that were indoor lifetime bests, and if we can keep that many people going forward, then someday we’re going to get to where we want to be.”
Usual stars such as sophomore middle distance runner Daniel Kuhn and redshirt junior thrower Nakel McClinton were at it again. Kuhn broke his own school record in the 800-meter, and his 1:47.83 time moves him up to 12th in the country.
McClinton broke her own school record in the weight throw for the third consecutive week and the fourth time this season. Her throw of 20.96 meters places her 10th in the country.
But perhaps the most impressive part of McClinton’s performance was that she did it while feeling under the weather.
“I was like ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do,’” McClinton said. “I was just off my routine. I was late here today by 20 minutes, so I was like ‘I don’t know how well I’m going to throw.’ And then my warmups went well, and I just popped one.”
The team saw numerous noteworthy performances elsewhere. For the women’s team, juniors Olivia Hippensteel and Kellie Davis finished first and second in the 800-meter, respectively, and both set season bests.
Freshman Aaliyah Armsted and junior Ari Nelson finished first and second in the long jump. They both had jumps of 5.71 meters, but Armsted’s second-best jump gave her the tiebreaker. Sophomore Katherine Receveur set a season best in the 3,000-meter, taking first place in 9:40.17.
Redshirt sophomore Jordan Huntoon won the mile and set a season best, finishing in 4:12.65. Redshirt senior Owen Skeete took the top spot in the fast section of the mile with a season best 4:05.48.
Sophomore Andrew Miller won the weight throw with a season-best throw of 19.88 meters. Also, sophomore Paul Galas won the high jump, freshman Markevious Roach won the fast section of the 400-meter, and freshman Willie Morrison won the shot put.
Redshirt junior Jason Crist had an exceptionally strong performance in the 3,000-meter. He won the race, set an indoor personal record for the first time in two years with his time of 7:56.98, which was good for seventh in school history, eighth in the country and top in the Big Ten.
Helmer said he was especially happy for Crist because of how hard he works and because he took a big jump by topping his previous best by nine seconds.
“I’ve had a pretty good few weeks of training, the last few meets have been pretty good for me,” Crist said. “I usually can kind of tell how my legs are going to feel heading into a race, and today in the warmup, they felt pretty good. So I had some indication it would go pretty well, but I didn’t know how well it would go.”
The meet was capped off by the Hoosiers sweeping the distance medley and 4x400 relays for both the men’s and women’s teams. The men’s 4x400 team of Kuhn, sophomore Zach Reitzug, Roach and junior Diquis Manley set a season best with a 3:12.64 time.
“One of the things that Coach Beathea talks about all the time is no matter what the level of competition, we want to walk out of the building having won those 4x400s at the end of the meet because everybody feels good,” Helmer said. “I think people are starting to take that challenge a little bit, take him at his word and follow through and get that done.”
This week, the Hoosiers will go to Notre Dame to compete in the Alex Wilson Invitational, the final meet before the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
