Crones Record-Setting Performance, Milers Highlight Greyhound Invitational

University of Southern Indiana’s men’s track & field team was dominant in the mile while freshman Kyle Crone put together a career day in the field events at the Greyhound Invitational Saturday.

The Screaming Eagles were able to notch two top-ten finishes in the 800 meters. Senior Javan Winders was USI’s top finisher in the event coming in fourth with a time well under the two-minute mark at 1 minute, 57.48 seconds. Sophomore teammate, Madison King grabbed ninth with a time of 2:02.54.

The Eagles excelled in the 3000m as a team claiming four of out of the top ten spots; three out of the top eight. Junior Gavin Prior led the way with a time of 8:54.88, earning him a fourth-place finish. Juniors Grady Wilkinson, Sean Hughes followed in line with marks of 8:57.46 and 9:08.12, good for sixth and eighth place, respectively. Freshman Will Sims snuck into the top ten with a time of 9:18.26 which rewarded him with ninth place.

The mile proved to be USI’s best event collectively; as their top-five finishers not only placed in the top ten, they also ran times all under 4 minutes and 35 seconds. Junior Nathan Hall paced the Eagles by winning the event with a time of 4:20.94. Junior Wyat Harmon followed close behind Hall as he came in second with a time of 4:22.52. Freshman Oneel Occenat just stayed under the 4:30:00 barrier, with a time of 4:29.98 which earned Occenat a fourth-place finish. Sophomores Cameron Cox and Taylor Mills added to impressive showing with times of 4:32.72 and 4:34.99 giving them the sixth and ninth spot, respectively.

In the field events, USI had six top-five finishes between three different events.

Crone, the star of the meet, finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 41 feet, 11.5 inches. Crone’s triple jump mark made him school record holder, besting Tyrell Nickelson’s mark from 2018. Zack Gresens followed Crone with a leap of 38’ 6”, nabbing third place.

Nickelson added a third-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 6’ 4.75” and Crone came in fifth place with a mark of 6’ 2.75”.

Crone was also the top USI finisher in the long jump with a leap of 20’ 9.75” good for fifth place for the meet, and third all-time in USI history. Gresens came next with his own mark of 19’ 6.25” to give him eighth place.

Other Notables: The Eagles were recently ranked 30th in the new USTFCCCA Poll that was released last week, Tuesday.