Terre Haute, Ind. and Louisville, Ky. – The Vincennes University men’s and women’s Cross Country teams pulled double duty this weekend as members of the VU men’s team took part in the Nike XC Town Twilight at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute Friday night, while the rest of the men’s and women’s teams headed to Louisville for the 2024 Live in Lou Classic Saturday.

The weekend started with members of the men’s team taking the short trip to Terre Haute for a unique cross country race, racing under the lights at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.

Vincennes was paced on the day by freshman Stephen Hershberger (Fowler, Ind.) who finished with a time of 29:04.25 to place 148th overall.

Freshman Hayden Kler (Hillsboro, Ind.) was the next across the line at 29;32.83 to take 169th overall and freshman Alex Kwizera (Indianapolis, Ind.) was close behind at 29:43.87 in 173rd place.

Freshmen Tucker Henson (Louisville, Ky.) and Dakoda Greci (Danville, Ind.) were the next VU finishers with Henson posting a time of 31:19.33 and Greci ending at 31:54.49.

The Trailblazers night on the course was rounded out by sophomore Max Pendley (French Lick, Ind.) who finished with a time of 32:11.53.

“The guys who were not racing in Louisville got to race under the lights at Terre Haute Friday,” VU Head Cross Country Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “It was well worth the trip with four of the six guys coming away with a PR.”

“Stephen improved by almost 50 seconds,” Steigenga added. “Hayden had the fastest finish on the team, running almost a minute and a half faster. Alex did great in his first 8k of the year, finishing right after Hayden. Tucker managed to sneak under his old PR by two seconds.”

“It was fun to come out here and race in such an awesome atmosphere and make sure the whole team got an opportunity to compete this weekend,” Steigenga said.

The Trailblazers then completed their busy weekend Saturday at the 2024 Live in Lou Classic at Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville.

The VU men’s team got the afternoon started in the Silver Race and were led by an outstanding performance by freshman Anis Abdaoui (Kairouan, Tunisia) who was the top scorer in the race and placed fourth overall with a time of 25:55.2.

Sophomore Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) was the next VU finisher, crossing the line with a time of 27:18.5 to take 30th overall.

Sophomores Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) and Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.) were the next finishers, with Hostetler finishing just ahead of his teammate with a time of 27:56.4 and a time of 27:58.8 for Spence.

Freshman Kelvin Kipsang (Kapsabet, Kenya) rounded out the Vincennes scoring with a time of 28:23.0 to take 61st overall.

Sophomore Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind.) was right behind Kipsang with a time of 28:28.6, while sophomore Bryaun Manuel (East St. Louis, Ill.) and freshman Rylan Mullins (Greenwood, Ind.) posted times of 28:52.4 for Manuel and 29:05.6 for Mullins.

The VU men’s team closed out the race with freshman Jeremy Delobel (Velpen, Ind.) coming through with a time of 29:27.3.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.- The University of Southern Indiana Women’s Swimming and Diving team returned to the IU Natatorium for the second straight year opening the season against the host Indiana University Indianapolis and Northern Kentucky University in a double dual. The Screaming Eagles dominated the Norse 193-5 but fell to the Jaguars 137-97.
 
The Eagles earn their first victory over Northern Kentucky and continue to inch closer to the IU Indy Jaguars. USI fell to the Jaguars last year 149-93.
 
Sophomore Preseason Summit League Swimmer to Watch Hayden Shurtz was the lone Eagle to win an event as she took the 100 breaststroke. The sophomore finished 2.11 seconds faster than the second-place finisher at 1:06.67.
 
Junior Elizabeth Busby, junior Makana Goss, sophomore Caiya Cooper, and Shurtz kick started the season with a second place 400 medley time (4:01.91). Junior Mattilynn Smith also finished second in her 1000 freestyle season debut (10:58.92).
 
Freshman sprinter Simone Green made her USI debut with a respectable 50 freestyle third place finish (25.37). Freshman Emma Gabhart becomes the second fastest 200 individual medley swimmer in the USI history books with a second-place finish (2:12.95). The current 200 IM record holder is Shurtz (2:09.64).
 
The two new freshman divers lead the Eagles in the one-meter dive event. Freshman Gabbie Meier finished in second place (202.95 pts), while freshman Anna Bunnell was right behind in third place (200.40 pts). Bunnell led the Eagles in the three-meter dive (205.20 pts).
 
Junior Sarah-Catherine Dawson started her season strong with a tight second place finish (1:00.51) in the 100 Butterfly. Another freshman made a strong debut as Elizabeth Ketcham placed second in the 100 Backstroke (1:00.09). Green, Ketcham, Smith, and Cooper delivered a quick 400 freestyle relay (3:38.78).
 

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team opened another tough weekend of competition with the first day of the 2024 Showdown on the Wabash tournament at VU.

The Blazers began the weekend slate with a split of their Friday matches, winning a Region 24 clash over Southwestern Illinois College 25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-15 and falling to Wallace State C.C. 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-8, 14-16.

Vincennes began the day with a Region 24 contest against Southwestern Illinois College from Belleville.

The Blazers broke away in the opening set to take an early 9-6 lead before the Blue Storm battled back to regain the lead at 17-16.

Vincennes would answer back late in the first set and close the set by outscoring SWIC 7-2 to take set one 25-22.

Set two was another back-and-forth battle, with neither team able to get a solid lead until the Blue Storm used four unanswered points to close out the set and even the match with a 25-21 victory.

Vincennes looked determined to take the pivotal third set but again had an early lead erased.

VU would again look to gain firm control of the match at 22-16 before the Blue Storm rallied back with four straight points.

This would be as close as SWIC would get however as Vincennes picked up three straight points to close out the third set 25-20 and take a 2-1 match lead.

Wanting to avoid a fifth set, Vincennes again got off to a quick start in set four, building an early 7-2 lead, which SWIC again erased to tie the set at 7-7.

Vincennes would get the lead back with three straight points and continue to build on this lead with a 5-0 run later in the set as VU pulled away late to take set four and the match 25-15.

“SWIC was the hottest team in the Region coming into today,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “They were on a 10 game winning streak before today and a couple of those wins were against some of the other top teams in the Region. We knew we were going to have a tough game, plus they had two players back that didn’t play the first time we played them.”

“Having those two back for them will add fire power and blocking to any team,” Sien added. “We had a hard time stopping No. 13 early in the match. We had to really adjust our blocking, getting in front of her hitting arm and were able to get more touches from that which helped us get some more digs that we didn’t get early in the match.”

“There were a couple of SWIC hitters that we were able to help control with our blocking and defense, which was the difference in the match,” Sien said. “Looking at our kill numbers, we were able to transition pretty well too.”

The VU offense was again led by the sophomore tandem of Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) and Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil), who each finished with 14 kills.

Tavares would add a pair of blocks, one dig and one set assist and Dias would also record three blocks and one dig.

Sophomore Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) also had a big game, finishing with 11 kills, two blocks, two digs and one ace.

Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) was the fourth VU hitter to reach double-digit kills, coming away with 10 kills, three blocks and a pair of set assists.

Freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland) had a good all-around game with four kills, 12 digs, two blocks and two set assists, while sophomore Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) came away with a monster game at the net with two kills, a team-high seven blocks and one set assist.

The VU offense was run by sophomore setter Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) who finished with a team-high 26 set assists, two digs, one kill and one ace.

Freshman setter Rylee Edwards (Fairfield, Ill.) also helped spread the ball around, picking up a double-double with 21 set assists, 11 digs and two aces.

Sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) and freshman Julianna Rettig (Antioch, Ill.) helped control the back row defense for the Trailblazers, with Flexter finishing the match with 13 digs, one set assist and one ace, while Rettig picked up a team-high 16 digs and one ace.

The Trailblazers then looked to close out the first day strong with another tough test, this time against Wallace State Community College.

The Lions came out of the gates strong in set one, building an early 8-3 lead and later held a 13-7 advantage over the Blazers.

The Wallace State lead would grow to eight before Vincennes began to chip away with a 7-2 scoring run to cut the deficit to 23-21.

Facing set point, Vincennes would continue to battle, getting within a single point of the Lion lead before Wallace State closed out the opening set 25-23 to gain the early 1-0 match lead.

Set two was more of the same from Wallace State, using an early 6-0 run to build a quick lead, which would grow to 18-11 before the Blazers rallied off three straight points.

This time however the Lions were determined to put the set away as the two teams traded points with Wallace State grabbing set two 25-18 to take a 2-0 match lead.

Looking to avoid the sweep, the Trailblazers showed some determination of their own in set three, gaining a lead midway through the set and later using a 7-1 scoring run to build a 24-15 advantage.

Wallace State found themselves trying to climb back and were able to put four straight points together but were unable to overcome the deficit as VU took set three 25-19, with Wallace State now leading the match 2-1.

VU used this late momentum from set three into set four, riding a massive 9-0 scoring run by Libby Mehringer to grab the early advantage.