LOUISVILLE, Ken. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s and Women’s Track & Field competed in the Bellarmine Open Friday to kick off the 2024 indoor season and combined for eight top-10 finishes, a pair of podium marks, and one record-breaking performance. As a team, the Screaming Eagles finished in the top 10 with the men earning ninth place and the women taking 10th place.
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Senior Noah Hufnagel (Santa Claus, Indiana) took home both podium finishes after winning the mile and 3,000 meters. Hufnagel scored a personal-best time of four minutes and 13.11 seconds and, in the 3,000 meters, crossed the line in second at 8:21.57. Junior Audrey Comastri (Indianapolis, Indiana) smashed USI’s 1,000-meter indoor record after crossing the line at 2:58.36 to finish in seventh place. Comastri’s record-breaking time tops a record from 2018 and beat it by nearly 10 seconds.
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For the women, freshman Zoe Seward (Rochester, Indiana) began her first collegiate indoor season with a fifth-place finish in the mile with a time of 5:09.81. Also earning a top-10 mark was sophomore Emily Rempe (Owensboro, Kentucky) who had a ninth-place finish in the 1,000 meters with a time of 3:03.77 which now marks the second-fastest time in program history behind Comastri.
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In the pit, junior James Butler (Evansville, Indiana) took home a top-10 finish after a 20-foot, one-inch leap for seventh place. Also securing a top-10 finish was senior Mitchell Hopf (Santa Claus, Indiana) who ran a 4:20.53 mile time to take 10th place. In a team effort, the 4×400-meter relay group consisting of freshman Muhiyadin Ali (Chicago, Illinois), freshman Cole Hess (Cannelton, Indiana), freshman Gabe Land (Newburgh, Indiana), and junior Rick Pflanz (Huntingburg, Indiana) took home ninth place with a time of 3:31.21.
Southeast Missouri State University men’s and women’s teams won the meet after the men put up 179.50 points and the women earned 125 points, respectively.
