Eagles 4th at OVC Indoor Championships as Austin named Freshman of Year
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field freshman Hadessah Austin was named the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Freshman of the Year after winning a pair of titles at the OVC Indoor Championships Tuesday and Wednesday.
Austin cruised to a win in the 5,000 meters Tuesday to claim her first-career OVC championship. She finished the race in 17 minutes, 10.30 seconds, nine seconds in front of teammate Elle Hall, who was second with a time of 17:19.87.
On Wednesday, Austin raced to her second title of the meet as she finished first in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:47.76.
Austin’s wins were two of three first-place finishes for the Screaming Eagles, who placed fourth as a team with 60 points.
USI’s distance medley relay team of freshmen Addison Applegate and Abrielle Richard, junior Emily Rempe and senior Audrey Comastri finished first Tuesday evening. The quartet clocked a time of 11:57.47 to claim the Eagles’ first-ever relay title at the Division I level.
Richard nearly came up with a second win on the week as she finished second in the finals of the 800 meters. The Newburgh, Indiana, native clocked the fastest time in the prelims Tuesday and had the lead going into the final turn Wednesday; but she stumbled slightly in the final stretch, allowing Southeast Missouri State University’s Erika Mellor to claim the win by a quarter of a second margin.
As a team, the Eagles had six podium finishes. Comastri earned a third-place finish in the mile on Wednesday, while Hall had the second-place showing in the 5,000 meters before finishing fifth in the 3,000 meters.
Sophomore Zoe Seward also scored for the Eagles with a fifth-place showing in the 5,000 meters.
USI opens the 2025 outdoor season March 27-29 with meets scheduled at the Raleigh Relays March 27-29 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the WashU Distance Carnival in St. Louis March 27-28, and the Pacesetter Sports Invitational March 29 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
