VU Track and Field caps off busy weekend with more National Qualifiers

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.