IU’s strong indoor season culminated in a pair of second-place finishes at this weekend's Big Ten Championships.
The men ended the meet with a total of 91 points, barely edged out by the Nebraska’s 93 points. The women found themselves with a total of 83 points, 29 points behind the champions, Ohio State.
After day one of the two-day meet, both the IU men’s and women’s squads saw themselves in a top-three spot. The women topped the field with 37 points, while the men’s 27 points had them in third place.
Fueling the top-three spots were two individual first-place finishes from the Hoosiers.
Junior Jenna Jungels grabbed the women’s long jump title with a distance of 6.12 meters, the school’s first victory in the event since 2003.
Sophomore Ben Veatch’s time of 8:26.03 in the men’s 3,000-meter earned him the top spot.
The men earned more points in the 3,000-meter with junior Kyle Mau crossing the finish line one spot behind Veatch. His time of 8:26.76 gave the Hoosiers the top two spots as well as a combined 18 points.
The 3,000-meter proved to be a successful event for the women as well. Seniors Maggie Allen and Katherine Receveur took home the second and third place spots respectively. Allen ran a time of 9:23.44 with Receveur finishing just behind at a time of 9:25.38. These finishes added 14 more points to the Hoosiers' total.
The remaining podium finishes of day one came in the field events.
In the high jump, sophomore Jyles Etienne was one of three competitors to break a facility record. His height of 2.16 meters nabbed him third place and six points.
In the weight throw, both the men and women grabbed points. For the men, sophomore Nick Lane finished in seventh place with a distance of 19.80 meters. On the women’s side, the team took sixth and seventh place. Senior Nycia Ford threw 20.71 meters for sixth, and sophomore Princess Brinkley threw 19.95 meters for seventh.
The Hoosiers also saw a podium finish from freshman Hope Purcell. Her 3,872 points in the pentathlon earned her fourth place.
On day two of the championships, the Hoosiers grabbed two more first-place finishes.
Senior Eric Bethea's distance of 15.99 meters in the triple jump earned him his second career Big Ten title in the event. On the women’s side of the event, junior Leah Moran finished in second place after jumping 12.95 meters.
The remaining title came in the men’s pole vault. Junior Adam Coulon took home the crown and 10 points with his height of 5.44 meters.
Although no other Hoosiers finished first in their event, they still saw a variety of notable finishes in both the track and field events.
The 800-meter proved to be a strong event for the team as it saw top-three finishes from both the men and women.
The men earned a total of 11 points in the event. Sophomore Copper Williams’ time of 1:48.76 was good enough for second place, while junior Adam Wallace’s time of 1:51.05 nabbed him sixth place.
With a third-place finish on the women’s side, senior Kelsey Harris earned the team six points.
After qualifying for the finals on day one, Mau ran a time of 4:03.47 to take home second place in the mile.
Veatch and Receveur continued their weekends by grabbing second and third place in their respective 5,000-meter runs. Veatch ran a time of 13:53.81 while Receveur finished with a time of 16:18.94.
Closing things out on the track was freshman Rikkoi Brathwaite. His time of 6.71 seconds in the 60-meter dash provided the Hoosiers with five points and a fourth-place finish.
The remainder of IU’s points came from the shot put.
The women saw two top-five finishes in the event, while the men grabbed the fifth spot.
Junior Khayla Dawson came in third place after throwing a distance of 17.05 meters. In fifth place was sophomore Maddy Pollard with a distance of 16.69 meters.
For the men, junior Willie Morrison was responsible for a fifth-place finish with a distance of 18.35 meters.
The Big Ten Championships closes things out for the Hoosiers as a team during the indoor season. However, the team will still send qualifying athletes to Birmingham, Alabama on March 9 and 10 for the NCAA Championships.
