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Competing in its first meet since 1985, the University of Evansville men’s and women’s track and field teams took to the track inside the Athletics Center Fieldhouse on the campus of Fort Wayne.
In the dual-scored meet, the Aces’ men defeated IUPUI (57.00-29.00) and Morehead State (62.00-16.00), while the women’s team fell in all nine of its matchups.
For the men’s side, Evansville’s highest finish of the day came in the pole vault as freshman Ian Alberts finished fourth among the 10-vaulter field with a height of 4.10 meters. Fellow freshman Kevin Yeung joined Alberts in the pole vault competition, finishing in a tie for eighth with a height of 3.20 meters.
Racing at a distance much shorter than he has been accustomed to in a pair of season’s with the Aces’ cross country team, sophomore Stanley Chepchieng excelled in the 800 meters earning an 11th-place finish with a time of 2:03.67. Also in the 800, sophomore Tucker Dawson finished in 2:12.82 in 17th, while freshman Alton Hoops (2:24.12) and sophomore Jonathan Newby (2:34.29) crossed the finish line in 19th and 20th, respectively.
Evansville also saw success in the mile run as freshman Ethan Price (23rd) finished just over 13 seconds shy of a top 10 finish with a time of 4:36.29 in the tightly bunched field.
For the Aces’ women’s team, much like her counterpart on the men’s team, freshman Anna Lowry found success in the 800 meters, finishing 15th with a time of 2:32.03. Lowry finished the race less than five seconds off the fifth-place finisher. Also for the Aces in the 800, freshman Izzy Dawson crossed the line in 21st just seven seconds behind Lowry while freshman Lexi Sutherland finished 24th in 2:46.03.
Freshman Nikki Hutchcraft represented the Aces in the 60-meter dash, finishing 19th among the 30-sprinter field in a time of 8.30.
In the final women’s event of the afternoon, the Aces put together a successful run in the 4×400 meter relay. Evansville finished ninth among the 13 teams competing in the relay, finishing in a time of 4:27.82 ahead of A-teams from Morehead State and Valparaiso and Northern Kentucky’s B-team.
Both men’s and women’s squads return to indoor competition on February 3 at the Don Denoon Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois.
