CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams headed outside for the first time this season and split the squad between two different meets.

Members of the VU Track team headed to St. Louis, Mo. to take part in the WashU Distance Carnival hosted by Washington University of St. Louis Friday, while the rest of the VU Track teams headed to Charleston, Ill. for the two-day EIU Big Blue Invitational hosted by Eastern Illinois University Friday and Saturday.

The WashU Distance Carnival crew was headed by sophomore Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) who placed eighth in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:53.43.

Freshman Brahym Sakka (Tunisia) placed 32nd in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a final time of 10:07.82.

Freshman Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) rounded out the VU finishers Friday, taking part in the 10,000 meters and finished with a time of 35:19.23 to place 135th in a very competitive field.

The rest of the Trailblazers headed to Charleston, Ill. for the EIU Big Blue Invitational.

The VU teams were led by a great showing in the 400 meters, with the Trailblazers posting four of the top five finishes in the event, led by 600 meter Indoor National Champion Desroy Jordan, who took the top spot with a time of 47.24.

Freshmen Olamipo Ladipo, Malik Ferdinand and Tumaini Skinner rounded out the top five finishers with Ladipo placing second at 47.70 seconds, Ferdinand took fourth at 49.30 and Skinner placed fifth at 50.01 seconds.

Sophomore Matthew Gray (Washington, Ind.) and freshman Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.) rounded out the VU finishers in the 400 meters, with Gray taking 14th at 52.18 seconds and Spence placing 17th at 53.77 seconds.

Spence and Gray then turned around and led a group of Trailblazers in the 1500 meter dash, with Spence posting a time of 4:09.73 to take 15th, while Gray placed 27th at 4:26.99.

Freshmen Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind.), Alex Kwizera (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Max Pendley (French Lick, Ind.) closed out the VU finishers in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:28.06 for Whitehead, 4:42.10 for Kwizera and 4:50.46 for Pendley.

Sophomore and Indoor Heptathlon National Champion Olegs Kozjakovs was one of a few Blazers to compete in multiple events, placing 15th in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 27.16 seconds and taking fifth in the discus with a throw of 45.39 meters.

Freshman Jeremiah Ziebart also competed in multiple events, following Olegs by placing 10th in the discus with a throw of 35.80 meters and taking fourth in the javelin with a best throw of 47.54 meters.

Freshman Clinton Laguerre had VU’s next best individual finish on the men’s side, taking second in the 400 meter hurdles with a final time of 54.63 seconds, along with freshman Zion Pruitt who took ninth at 1:02.32.

The VU men’s team was rounded out in Charleston by freshman Jacob Wickman who placed eighth in the hammer throw with a distance of 33.65 meters.

“We opened the outdoor season with a very busy weekend,” VU Head Track and Field Coach Marty Rogier said. “I thought we had a successful start to the season and I am even more excited than I was about our potential.”

“At EIU, we had some very good performances in some very windy conditions,” Rogier added. “It’s a little different when you get outdoors and have to deal with the elements. I was hoping for us to just compete hard and not be concerned about times or distances.”

“The men were led by the 400 group,” Rogier said. “We went one, two, four, five in that event, led by indoor National Champion Desroy Jordan who had a winning time of 47.24. Olamipo ran stride for stride with Desroy running a very fast 47.70 for second. That qualified for Nationals and places him fifth in program history.”

“Malik and Tumaini added 49.3 and a 50.01 in the 400,” Rogier added. “Clinton had a very nice race finishing second in the 400 hurdles with a quick 54.63. This group performed very well, especially considering the stiff head wind that hit them on the homestretch.”

“Jeremiah had a very good performance in his first meet throwing the javelin,” Rogier said. “He finished fourth throwing 47.54 with a terrible cross wind. That also places him sixth in program history. He is new to that event and I believe he is going to do very well as the season progresses.”

“Olegs followed that up with a fifth place finish in the discus with a solid 45.39 throw,” Rogier added. “He had a good series of throws and there could be some big throws coming.”

The Trailblazer women’s team had an equally productive first weekend at Eastern Illinois, led by Indoor Pole Vault National Champions Sophia and Julia Amaral.

Aces walk it off in series finale

UE takes final game of the series

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Trailing by a score of 2-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, the University of Evansville softball team rallied for two runs to take a 3-2 win over UIC in Sunday’s series finale at Tri-State Orthopaedics Field at Cooper Stadium.

Zoe Frossard scored the tying run in the 7^th, coming home when Jess Willsey reached on an error.  Alexa Davis scored the winning run, coming home on a wild pitch.  As a team, the Purple Aces accumulated six hits in the game while holding the Flames to four.  Brooke Voss had two hits while scoring a run.

UE had its first scoring opportunity in the first as Willsey reached on an error and Marah Wood followed with a bunt single to put runners on second and third before a flyout kept things scoreless.  The Flames plated the first run of the day in the top of the second and were poised to add more in the third.

UIC loaded the bases with no outs as they looked to extend the lead.  Brooke Voss threw a runner out at home for the first out.  While the Flames scored their second run on a base hit, Voss limited the damage once again, turning a double play to end the top of the frame.

Evansville’s defense made numerous impressive plays to keep the Flames within striking distance and their persistence paid off as the Purple Aces got on the board in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out, Brooke Voss doubled to left center and advanced to third on the throw.  She scored on a sacrifice fly from Abby Bode.

In the bottom of the seventh, UE completed the comeback.  Frossard and Taylor Howe both reached on 1-out walks.  That brought Willsey to the plate, who forced an error that allowed Frossard to score and tie the game.  Alexa Davis reentered the game for Howe and advanced to third on the play before scoring the winning run on a wild pitch.

Sydney Weatherford picked up her third win of the season.  She allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits in the 7-inning performance.  Miranda Gomez took the loss, allowing three runs, just one earned, in 6 1/3 frames.

UE is back home Wednesday to face USI.

Pensacola, Fl.:  In a loss that was filled with positives for the Thunderbolts in their final road game of the regular season, Matthew Hobbs led the way with two goals in a 4-3 loss in Pensacola on Saturday night.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, April 5^th against the Birmingham Bulls, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

Pensacola gained their first lead of the night at 3:44 on a goal from Garrett Milan.  Responding for Evansville was Hobbs on his first goal of the game and his 10^th of the season, at 11:09 from Jacob Kamps, the assist also being Kamps’ first professional point.  Evansville outshot Pensacola 22-15 in the second period, however it was the Ice Flyers who scored twice on goals from Mitch Atkins at 8:20 and Houston Wilson at 13:32, giving them a 3-1 lead through two periods.  Late in the second period, Hobbs took on Malik Johnson in the game’s first fight, in which Hobbs battled Johnson to a draw despite being at a size disadvantage.

The third period began with an opening face-off fight between Bronson Adams and Pensacola’s Sean Gulka, another even scrap despite Gulka also holding a notable size advantage.  Evansville grabbed momentum out of the scrap and scored seconds later at 0:13 as Lincoln Hatten scored from Kamps to make it a 3-2 game.  Although not officially listed with an assist, Hobbs should end up with an assist on the goal, which would earn Hobbs the first Thunderbolts’ Gordie Howe Hat Trick (Goal, Assist, and Fight) since 2020, and only the 4^th in franchise history.  At 7:27 Pensacola regained the two-goal lead as Taylor Egan made it a 4-2 game, before Evansville responded again at 10:54 as Hobbs scored his second goal of the game on a Hatten shot redirection.  Evansville pressed with a late 6-on-4 advantage with a power play and Cole Ceci pulled, but just could not find a way to score as the Ice Flyers survived the onslaught, winning 4-3.

Hobbs finished with two goals and is likely to be credited with an assist, Hatten finished with a goal and assist, and Kamps tallied two assists.  In goal, Ceci finished with 29 saves on 33 shots.  The Thunderbolts and Ice Flyers do not meet again this regular season, with Evansville winning the season series 2-1.

Tyler Repeats as NCAA Platform Champion in Another 1-2 IU Diving Finish

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana clinched its fifth top-five national finish in six years Saturday (March 30) at the 2024 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships inside the IU Natatorium. The Hoosiers scored 376 points to finish fourth as a team for the second consecutive season.

Indiana remains among college swimming’s elite – in the last six years, only four teams have consistently finished with the top six nationally: Cal, Texas, Florida and the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers finished two points behind Florida and 56 points in front of NC State.

Fourteen Hoosiers combined for 43 All-America honors, both totals Indiana’s most since 19 athletes from the 1974 squad totaled 50 honors in a second-place team finish.

As well as the national finish, Indiana won its third consecutive Big Ten Championship during the 2023-24 season. The Hoosier men and women completed conference championship double for the second time in program history, and both teams finished the regular season 8-0 in dual meet competition.

Junior Carson Tyler repeated as the NCAA platform diving champion with a score of 515.75, IU’s best-ever score at an NCAA Championships. For the second-straight night, Tyler led a 1-2 Hoosier finish as sophomore Maxwell Weinrich took silver in 450.70. Junior Quinn Henninger finished seventh with a 377.65.

The Hoosiers captured a program record six diving medals of the nine available; two gold, two silver and two bronze. IU’s trio combined for 121 points on the boards, 66 points more than the second-best diving team – Ohio State – and outscoring all but 10 combined swimming and diving programs. Indiana has eclipsed 100 points at back-to-back NCAA Championships after earning 104 points last year. Tyler himself outscored Ohio State, totaling 56 points from his two championships and his bronze on the 1-meter board. Henninger had 46 points – better than all but two other teams – and Weinrich contributed 19.

Senior Brendan Burns finished his career in the most fitting way, swimming the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard butterfly on the same day for the first time at an NCAA Championships. Burns placed on the podium in both events thanks to his morning performances and finished seventh in the back and eighth in the fly. The fifth-year senior swam those events at every Big Ten Championships and became the first man in the conference to win both in the same year in 2021 – before repeating the feat in 2022 and 2023.

Burns closes his collegiate chapter a three-time NCAA Champion, four-time national runner-up, 25-time All-American and 22-time Big Ten Champion. He helped lead the Hoosiers to three Big Ten team titles and three top-five national finishes.

For the second-straight season, Tomer Frankel finished within the top five in both the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard butterfly. Frankel set a program record in the 100 fly Friday, becoming the first Hoosier ever under the 44-second barrier with times of 43.90 and 43.85.

RESULTS

1,650 FREESTYLE

26. Tristan DeWitt – 14:51.45 (Career Best)

200 BACKSTROKE
7. Brendan Burns – 1:38.62 (All-America)

13. Kai van Westering – 1:39.76 (Second-Team All-America)

100 FREESTYLE

14. Rafael Miroslaw – 41.75 (Second-Team All-America)

200 BREASTSTROKE

7. Jassen Yep – 1:51.51 (All-America)
8. Maxwell Reich – 1:52.28 (Second-Team All-America)

200 BUTTERFLY

4. Tomer Frankel – 1:39.35 (All-America)
5. Brendan Burns – 1:41.73 (All-America)

PLATFORM

1. Carson Tyler – 515.75 (NCAA Champion, All-America)
2. Maxwell Weinrich – 450.70 (NCAA Silver, All-America, Career Best)
3. Quinn Henninger – 377.65 (All-America)

400 FREESTYLE RELAY

9. Tomer Frankel, Rafael Miroslaw, Luke Barr, Mikkel Lee – 2:47.13 (Second-Team All-America)

HOOSIER ALL-AMERICANS

Luke Barr (200 IM*, 400 freestyle relay*)

Finn Brooks (200 medley relay, 100 butterfly*)

Brendan Burns (200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke, 400 medley relay, 200 backstroke, 200 butterfly)

Tomer Frankel (200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay, 200 freestyle relay*, 100 butterfly, 400 medley relay, 200 butterfly, 400 freestyle relay*)

Quinn Henninger (1-meter, 3-meter, platform)

Mikkel Lee (200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay*, 400 freestyle relay*)

Josh Matheny (100 breaststroke, 400 medley relay)

Rafael Miroslaw (800 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle*, 200 freestyle relay*, 200 freestyle, 400 medley relay, 100 freestyle*, 400 freestyle relay*)

Maxwell Reich (200 breaststroke*)

Carson Tyler (1-meter, 3-meter, platform)

Kai van Westering (800 freestyle relay, 200 backstroke*)

Maxwell Weinrich (3-meter*, platform)­­

Gavin Wight (200 freestyle relay*)

Jassen Yep (100 breaststroke*, 200 breaststroke)

* – Denotes second-team All-America