May 14, 2006 INDIANA STATE MEN CAPTURE MVC TITLE, WOMEN FINISH SIXTH Complete Results (.pdf) WICHITA, Kan. – Indiana State held on to its lead heading into the final day of competition at the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships and finished with 167 points, 63 points ahead of second place Wichita State. The women went into the final day in sixth and finished in the same position, tallying 60 points during the competition. Indiana State’s men captured eight individual titles during the three-day competition and finished the final day with first-place honors in the shot put, 400-meter hurdles, 5,000-meter run and 400-meter dash. Along with first-place performances, the men scored in all but one event during the day for the school’s first outdoor track and field championship since 2001. “This was really a balanced effort,” men’s head coach John McNichols said. “We came really close to sweeping every title this year, but came in runner-up during the indoor season. However, this team is one of the best I’ve seen since being at Indiana State.” ISU All-American Jordan Fife followed up his win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase the night before to take first place in the 5,000-meter run with a finishing time of 14:45.63. The win qualifies the senior for his third event at the NCAA Regional Meet in two weeks (1,500m; 3,000m steeplechase; 5,000m). Fife also was named the MVC Outdoor Championship outstanding track athlete. Paladin Jordan ran to a first-place finish in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and then bounded to a third-place finish in the men’s triple-jump with a distance of 50 feet 1.75 inches. Teammates Andrew Geller and James Twitchell also scored points for ISU with a fifth and sixth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. Drew Traub helped the Sycamores to a near clean sweep in each of the throwing events by place first in the shot put with a mark of 60 feet 2.5 inches. Freshman Sean Wright sprinted to the Sycamores’ final first-place spot of the day with a time of 46.59 in the 400-meter dash. In other sprinting action, senior Jerry Clopton placed second in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash with times of 10.60 and 21.31, respectively. Jake Hack scored points for ISU with a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run and Sean Bowman also finished in scoring contention with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run. The men scored points in bunches in the 110-meter hurdles with a three-four-five finish by Nigel Bigbee (14.43), Jordan (14.53) and Jamie Dearman (14.58). The trio netted the Sycamores 12 points in the event. In the final field event of the day, Jake Conn (16’-.75”) and Anthony Bertoli (15’-7”) finished third and fourth in the men’s pole vault to garner 10 points for the Sycamores. The women began the final day of competition with some momentum after a first-place finish in the triple jump, but were unable to move any higher than the sixth place position that they enter in as during the final day. “Ultimately I was disappointed with a sixth-place finish,” women’s head coach John Gartland said. “But, I was proud of some of the individual performances we had during the competition today.” Yolanda Wright began the day with a first-place bound of 41 feet 5.25 inches in the women’s triple jump and captured her second conference title in the triple jump this season, having captured the triple jump indoor title. Melissa Ullenbruch, competing in her final conference championship, finished second in the pole vault after clearing the bar set at 12 feet 5.5 inches. Teammate Nikki Royer also solidified points for the Sycamores with an 11 feet 5.75 inch fifth-place finish in the event. Myra Bess led the Sycamores in points on the final day by capturing
a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.31) and fourth-place
finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.36. The conclusion of the meet marks the end of the season for the Sycamores, with the exception of the athletes that will compete at the NCAA Regional Meet in two weeks with the hope of competing in the NCAA Championships in June. For complete results go to: http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring2006/WSUMoValley06/MoValley06.htm Men’s combined team scores: (21 events scored) Women’s combined team scores: (21 events
scored)
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