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BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS

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BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS

REGULAR MEETING

ROOM 301 CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024

12:00 NOON

 AGENDA

1.      CALL TO ORDER

2.      MEETING MEMORANDUM   FEBRUARY 7, 2024

3.      CONSENT AGENDA

         N/A

4.     OLD BUSINESS 

         N/A

             

5.      NEW BUSINESS          

         a. Request to seek quotes for a new skid loader for Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden.- Beck 

         b. Permission to combine Bloomin Zoo Plant Sale with a new Art’s Festival at Mesker Park Zoo

             & Botanic Garden.- Beck

         c. Request Re: Any Other Business the Board Wishes to Consider and Public Comment.

6.      REPORTS  

         a. Danielle Crook- Executive Director           

7.      ACCEPTANCE OF PAYROLL AND VENDOR CLAIMS

 

8.      ADJOURN

CELEBRATE EASTER AS A FAMILY WITH OLD NATIONAL EVENTS PLAZA’S ANNUAL EASTER BRUNCH

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RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED AND ARE NOW OPEN!

Evansville, IN – February 13, 2024 – The Old National Events Plaza opened reservations today for a new annual guest experience, Easter Brunch at The Plaza, set to take place on Easter Day, March 31, 2024.

After the morning Easter egg hunts and events are wrapped up, Old National Events Plaza invites families and parties of all sizes to enjoy a bountiful Easter meal together. Easter Brunch at The Plaza will celebrate Easter Sunday with a diverse menu of culinary selections, a visit from the Easter Bunny, dining music and a children’s craft for the little ones.

Easter Brunch at The Plaza offers a variety of traditional brunch dishes, plus a selection of specialty items like house-made Hashbrown Casserole, Smoked Salmon and Shrimp Cocktail displays, and build-your-own stations for Omelets and Waffles. Lunch items include Fried Chicken, Sweet Potato Casserole, and so much more! Treat the kids to something special with our Knee-High Buffet featuring kid-friendly items like Mini Corn Dogs and Kraft® Mac and Cheese. Bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys are available as an add-on for guests 21 and up.

“Holiday brunches are a beloved tradition for many families. We look forward to welcoming the local community to annual brunches where their traditions can grow, new guests can join, and folks can come back year after year,” said Old National Events Plaza Director of Food and Beverage, Brittany Shouse.

Easter Brunch at The Plaza will take place in the Ballrooms of Old National Events Plaza from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Parties of all sizes are welcome to make reservations during the dining window. Children under 2 eat free.

Ticket Information:

 

What:                   Easter Brunch at The Plaza

When:                  Sunday, March 31, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Where:                 Old National Events Plaza Ballrooms  I  715 Locust Street, Evansville, IN 47708

Tickets:                Reservations are $45.00 per adult, $15.00 per child age 3-12, Children under 2 eat free, all reservations are plus 8% tax. Reservations are required to attend.

For the complete menu and additional information, visit oldnationaeventsplaza.com.

 

Bill aimed to improve kids reading proficiency passes in the House Education Committee

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  • By DeMarion Newell, TheStatehouseFile.com
  • Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, the author of Senate Bill 1, explains her goals to improve reading proficiency rates for Hoosier children during the House Education Committee’s meeting on Wednesday.

    Photo by DeMarion Newell, TheStatehouseFile.com.

    The House Education Committee met Wednesday to discussSenate Bill 1 which took 2 hours but passed in a 9 to 4 vote. The bill would require schools to offer summer school courses for students who are not reading proficiently or are at risk of not reading proficiently indicated by an evaluation approved by the state board of education. The author of the bill, Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger,  said the goal is that “Every child learns to read.”

    The bill passed out of the Senate with a roll of call of 36 yays and 13 nays.

    The nays included four Republicans – Eric Bassler of Washington, Vaneta Becker of Evansville, Greg Walker of Columbus and James Tomes of Wadesville.

    “One area we could improve on is the essential skill of reading based upon the data from IRead. Consistently every single year about 1 in 5 students in Indiana can’t read effectively by the end of third grade,” Rogers said. “This is not acceptable. If a child hasn’t learned basic reading skills by that point of school they’re going to struggle to learn almost every other subject.”

    Several people appeared before the committee to voice their concerns and possible improvements.

    Danielle Coulter with the Indiana Speech-Language-Hearing Association, voiced her concerns on the lack of evidence found that this will help students.

    “We have not found much evidence saying that this helps students, in fact we see a lot of negative impacts on students settling within assessment results, ” Coulter said. “Instead these results should be used to monitor students over time, and not to be the sole point of order.”

    Coulter continued, “We would like to see a couple expanders. So currently exempting those with intellectual disabilities, visible disabilities. children who have sleeping, swallowing, and sleeping, and sometimes it can take ESL (English as a second language) students five-to-seven years to develop true fluency.

    Terry Spradlin, the executive director for the Indiana School Board Associationsuggested the bill start in two years.

    “Because we’ve heard that not all teachers are getting trained in the science of reading. Shouldn’t we have that expectation first before we allow students to be trained in the sciences in the classroom because of the provisions of the bill, but as a last resort we must wait two years before implementation,” Spradlin said.

    IRead is a standardized test that was developed to measure whether third grade students have the foundational reading skills to advance to the fourth grade.

    “There were 14,000 students who did not pass in 2023 and as a state we retained 410,” Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education, said.

    “Indiana has established a statewide goal of getting 95% of our third graders proficient at reading by 2027,” Rogers said. “SB 1 enacts a comprehensive policy to help our educators achieve that goal.”

    Indiana’s third graders literacy rates have been dropping for a decade, even prior to the academic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, results remain 9.5 percentage points below the state’s highest ever proficiency rate 91.4% during the 2012-2013 school year, according to Indiana Department of Education.

    Rogers, the bill’s author, says the first step will be for the department of education to inform parents of children in kindergarten of the program including the retention policy.

    “Schools will start requiring the IRead test to be taken by the second graders. If the student in second grade passes the test they will not have to take it again in the third grade,” Rogers said. “If the student does not pass the test in second grade it will be offered in summer school and given remediation support for their entire third grade year before taking the test again.”

    Rogers continued, “The student will need to pass the IRead in the spring of their third grade year or end of summer if necessary. If the student still isn’t able to demonstrate they can pass IRead which is written at a second grade level, then Indiana will have a retention policy preventing these students from passing to the fourth grade. The retention policy implements retaining students without an adverse impact along non academic dimensions.”

    Rogers emphasized that the bill isn’t about holding students back.

    “Retention is the absolute last option, if we tried all other methods,” Rogers said.

    This bill had five amendments that were brought up and three of them passed. The two amendments that didn’t pass were 11, and 21. The three amendments that did pass were amendment 18, 22, and 20.

    Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, questions members of the House Education Committee during their meeting on Wednesday.

    Photo by DeMarion Newell, TheStatehouseFile.com.

    Amendment 11 offered by Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, would make students who don’t attend at least 90% in a summer course must participate in a reading plan aligned with the science in reading for the upcoming school year. Failed in the majority vote of 4 yays to 9 nays.

    Amendment 21 offered by Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, was focused around retention.

    “Retention may be considered as a last resort, after other methods of remediation have been evaluated or used or both, if reading skills are below the standard,” according to the Indiana General Assembly. Failed in the majority vote of 5 yays to 8 nays.

    Amendment 18 offered by Rep. Jake Teshka, R-South Bend, aims towards helping students who are not reading proficient in grade 2 and 3 with assessments and summer school instructions. Passed in the majority vote of 9 yays to 4 nays.

    Amendment 20 and 22 passed due to consent. Meaning no vote was taken because the legislators agreed a vote was not necessary because they all supported the amendment.

    Amendment 18 passed but still raised a concern: Would getting a teacher who was trained in the science of reading works?

    While Jenner was speaking to the committee on why this bill is important. A lawmaker brought up Mississippi.

    “Mississippi went from being ranked the worst state in 2013 for fourth grade reading to 21st in 2022,” according to Associated Press. Other countries have taken notice of the Mississippi leap and named this the “Mississippi miracle.”

    Jenner implemented the Mississippi miracle into her reasoning on why Indiana should train teachers in the science of reading. “They jumped significantly in reading and it started with supporting and training teachers,” Jenner said.

    The bill has now been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, the tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives. All bills that will require revenue will originate in the House of Representatives.

    DeMarion Newell is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

About Julian Assange

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Freedom, Indiana – Author Andrew Horning is seeking the Libertarian Party of Indiana’s nomination for Indiana’s US Senate seat in 2024.

The first casualty of war is, everywhere and always, the truth.  And our government hasn’t had a moment’s peace since the catastrophic and apparently ongoing WWI.

The facts are clear, well-documented, and undeniable by anyone of honest reasoning.  Julian Assange reported only the truth on WikiLeaks, and it’s our government that continues to lie.  Assange published our governments’ anti-constitutional war crimes as verified source documents, and many traditional media outlets both validated and published the truths in their own publications.  To wield the unconstitutional Espionage Act of 1917 (a crime and national embarrassment in itself) against Assange requires at least six anti-constitutional and catastrophic crimes:

  1. There is no freedom of speech, or of the press, in obvious violation of the first sentence of our once-precious Bill of Rights.
  2. That the legal abstraction, “the United States,” is a creature with rights that supersede individual human rights.
  3. That the United States can wage war whenever, however, and against whomever, it sees fit.
  4. That the United States is both unimpeachably powerful, and unaccountable, to the public.
  5. That citizens have no right to know what they’re voting for, paying for, or dying for.
  6. That informed citizens of the United States are enemies of the United States.

It’s tragic that the TNI establishment media normalize and reinforce all the preceding abomination.  But voters still ought to know what candidates for the 2024 election think about this significant, pivotal case against Assange.  So how about we start with the other candidates for Indiana’s US Senate race? 

I’ll summarize what I think by saying that I believe that Assange should be lauded as a hero, and our government – that dangerous, opaque abstraction of partisan staffers, unjust courts, bureaucrats, puppet politicians, corporate cronies and global puppet-masters, should be wholly replaced, in a single day, by the process of peaceful revolution our founders bequeathed us.  Is that clear enough?

FOOTNOTE:  THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER POSTED THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT BIAS, OPINION, OR EDITING.

Indiana students to get free FAFSA filing help at College Goal Sunday, February 25

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Evansville, IN – Financial aid professionals from throughout the region will be volunteering at Ivy Tech Community College Evansville, as well as 36 other sites in Indiana to help collegebound students and their families open the door to financial aid during College Goal Sunday.  The event is set for 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 25.

The event will take place in Carter Library at Ivy Tech, 3501 N. First Avenue, and volunteers will be on hand to assist families. All individuals who plan to go to any college – not just Ivy Tech – are invited to attend. State law now requires all high school seniors to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

“We understand that with significant updates to this year’s FAFSA, College Goal Sunday is more important than ever,” said Caleb Fendrich, director of financial aid at Ivy Tech. “As best we can, we want to alleviate any concerns that students and families have about the financial aid process.”

Bill Wozniak, co-chair of College Goal Sunday statewide said there is additional importance for this event because there was only one help event like this, this year. “The delay in the new FAFSA from an October 1 launch to a late December soft launch has made many families anxious about getting the form filed.”

The FAFSA form is required for students to be considered for federal and state grants, scholarships, and Federal student loans at most colleges, universities, and vocational/technical schools nationwide. The FAFSA MUST be filed by the State of Indiana priority deadline of April 15 to guarantee state aid for those that qualify. One of the reasons College Goal Sunday is so important is because many families perceive the form to be too complicated and time consuming to complete.  In less than one afternoon during College Goal Sunday, students and their families can get free help and file the form.

“Indiana is first in the Midwest and fifth in the nation in providing need-based financial aid to Hoosier students. Each year, Hoosiers have access to over $400 million in state financial aid and billions of dollars in federal aid,” said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Chris Lowery. “Increasing the number of FAFSA filings will lead to many Hoosiers realizing their higher education possibilities are more tangible than otherwise thought. Not only is the FAFSA a huge step in unlocking potential career options and better outcomes for individuals, but it is also a key to strengthening our communities as a whole.”

Now in its 35th year, College Goal Sunday has helped more than 98,000 Indiana students and families complete the FAFSA properly and on time. College Goal Sunday is a charitable program of the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association (ISFAA).

What students should bring

Students should attend College Goal Sunday with their parent(s) or guardian(s), and parent(s) should bring completed 2022 IRS 1040 tax returns, W-2 Forms and other 2022 income and benefits information. Students who worked should also bring their income information. Students 24 years of age or older may attend alone and bring their completed 2022 IRS 1040 tax return, W-2 Form or other 2022 income and benefits information. Students and parent(s) are encouraged to apply for their U.S. Department of Education FSA IDs at studentaid.gov before coming to the event.

Volunteers will walk through the online form line-by-line and answer families’ individual questions as needed.

Attendees may win a scholarship from College Goal Sunday

Students may also win one of five $1,000 scholarships.  Students who attend College Goal Sunday and submit a completed evaluation form will automatically be entered in a drawing for a $1,000 scholarship.  The winners will be notified in spring and scholarships will be sent directly to the higher education institution selected by the winning students.

21st Century Scholars benefit

21st Century Scholars are income-eligible students who sign a contract in the seventh or eighth grade promising they will graduate from high school, meet grade point requirements, fulfill a pledge of good citizenship, and apply for college financial aid.  Upon high school completion, Scholars who have fulfilled the commitment and demonstrate financial need receive state funds to help cover their college tuition and fees for up to eight semesters at eligible Indiana public colleges or an equal dollar amount at eligible Indiana private colleges. To fulfill their pledge scholars must submit a completed FAFSA form on time, and College Goal Sunday can help.

 

Illinois State outlasts UE men in Sunday matinee

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Redbirds take 86-79 win over Aces

NORMAL, Ill. – Another eventful day on the floor for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team saw the Purple Aces come up just short on Sunday, falling to Illinois State by an 86-79 score inside CEFCU Arena.

Ben Humrichous led the Purple Aces with 21 points, all of which came in the second half.  He was 8-of-15 from the field and converted five 3-point tries.  Yacine Toumi and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. scored 13 apiece while Cam Haffner tied his season-high with 11.  Four Redbirds reached double figures with Malachi Poindexter recording a game-high 27.

“We did not to the job we needed to defensively today and Illinois State came out and took advantage of it.  They had a big win at Indiana State and came out with confidence today,” UE head men’s basketball coach David Ragland stated.  “The offense played really well and took good shots; you just cannot give up 86 points on the road and expect to win.”

Toumi opened the scoring with a putback with the Purple Aces taking a 4-0 lead.  In the blink of an eye, Illinois State recorded 10 in a row to take their first lead of the afternoon.  Gage Bobe knocked down a trey to cut into the deficit, but ISU came right back.  Converting their first six 3-point attempts of the game, ISU held a 30-15 lead at the 11:06 mark.

Evansville utilized the remainder of the half to cut into the deficit.  Cam Haffner, who matched his season scoring high of 11 in the first half alone, nailed back-to-back three’s to make it a 32-24 game inside of seven minutes remaining.  Antonio Thomas connected from outside in the final minute to get UE within five, but three Redbird free throws capped the first half scoring as they took a 44-36 lead into the break.  Both squads were lights out from outside in the period, each hitting seven of their 11 attempts.

Out of the break, UE caught fire.  Toumi opened the scoring before Ben Humrichous reeled off five in a row to cut the defcit to one – 44-43.  Just two minutes later, Humrichous connected from downtown once again to get the Aces within a pair at 48-46.  ISU came back with a 3-pointer of their own to push the lead to five, but Humrichous was true from long range once again as his 11th point of the period made it a 51-49 game at the 14:08 mark.

Humrichous continued his dominant second half with a jumper that tied it up before drilling a 3-pointer to put UE in front at 56-53 with 10:49 showing on the clock.  Kenny Strawbridge Jr. followed with a 3-point play to push the advantage to 59-55.  The Redbirds made their way back with a 5-0 run to jump back in front as the contest entered its final eight minutes.

Two minutes later, Strawbridge put the lead back in the Aces hands with a triple to make it a 66-64 game.  ISU countered with 10 in a row to take a 74-66 advantage with just over two minutes showing.  Strawbridge ended the stretch, knocking down three free throw tries to make it a 5-point game entering the final two minutes.  Unfortunately, ISU countered with a triple on the ensuing possession.

With the ISU lead still at eight entering the final minute, Humrichous connected on a three to cut it to a 5-point lead.  Illinois State missed the front end of a one-and-one to put the ball right back in UE’s hands.  Toumi scored on a drive to make it a 1-possession game at 79-76.  That would unfortunately be the closest the Aces would get as Illinois State finished the day with the 86-79 decision.

Both squads finished the day shooting 50% or higher.  ISU finished at 53.7% while UE checked in at an even 50%.  Each team also converted 13 3-pointers. Evansville will look to end a 3-game skid on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. road game at UIC.

 

Board of School Trustees of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Meeting

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 The Board of School Trustees of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation will meet for the regularly scheduled Board meeting Tuesday, February 20, 2024 at 5:30 PM in the Board Room of the EVSC Administration Building located at 951 Walnut Street, Evansville, IN. Board meetings can also be observed by tuning to EVSC’s radio station, 90.7 WPSR or live streamed online at https://www.wpsrhd.com/. 

Prior to the regularly scheduled Board meeting, three members of the Board, along with district administrators, will hold a Town Hall beginning at 5:00 PM. This Town Hall is for Vanderburgh County residents to speak directly with Board members in attendance about issues involving EVSC schools. The Town Hall will be held in the Technology and Innovation Center located at 951 Walnut Street, Evansville, IN. Members of the public who would like to attend the Town Hall should register by completing the Town Hall Registration Form located on our website at district.evscschools.com 

BASEBALL ACES HOLD ON FOR 7-6 WIN AT #26 ORAL ROBERTS

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TULSA, Okla. –  The University of Evansville baseball team jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on Sunday, and then held off a hard-charging #26 Oral Roberts squad for a 7-6 victory at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma to win the season-opening series on the road.

“I knew that we were going to learn a lot about our ballclub today, and for us to come out and put up four on the board and chase their starter in the first inning was exciting to see,” said Wes Carroll, who was coaching in his 800th career game as head coach of the Purple Aces on Sunday.  “That also allowed freshman Kevin Reed to just settle in on the mound, and what he gave us over five strong innings was enormous.

“I am really proud of the effort that our guys gave today, and we are definitely excited to get back home mid-week and play in front of our fans.”

Evansville wasted no time in grabbing a lead it would never lose on Sunday, as the Purple Aces sent nine men to the plate in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead.  Senior Kip Fougerousse started the rally with an RBI single, before senior shortstop Simon Scherry and junior designated hitter Evan Waggoner followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to plate all four runs in the frame.

UE would add a fifth run in the second inning on a run-scoring double-play ground ball to grab a 5-0 lead.  Oral Roberts would respond with two unearned runs in the second inning, and a solo home run in the third inning, before UE freshman left-hander Kevin Reed would silence the ORU bats.  Reed (1-0) earned the victory in his first collegiate start, scattering three runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks, while striking out one.

UE would push the lead back to three runs in the top of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by graduate third baseman Brent Widder.  Then, Fougerousse launched a long solo home run in the top of the seventh inning for insurance to move the lead to 7-3.  The insurance would be needed, as Oral Roberts answered back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning, before fifth-year senior closer Jakob Meyer came on to get out of the jam.  Meyer then worked perfect eighth and ninth innings to close the door and earn the seven-out save.

Fougerousse led Evansville offensively by going 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI.  Waggoner also delivered a two-run double, and six different Purple Aces came through with base hits.

With the victory, Evansville earned the season-opening series victory and improved to 2-1.  Oral Roberts, who was ranked #26 in the NCBWA preseason poll and was receiving votes in the USA Today/Coaches preseason poll as well, finished the series 1-2.  Evansville will now return home to host Bellarmine on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Pole Vaulters shine in Indoor regular season finale at ISU Open

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Vincennes University men’s and women’s Indoor Track and Field teams closed out the 2024 Indoor regular season Saturday at the Indiana State University Open in Terre Haute.

VU pole vaulters, sophomore Olegs Kozjakovs and freshman Sophia Armaral stole the show for the Trailblazer teams, with Kozjakovs placing second after clearing a height of 4.81 meters and Armaral taking the top spot on the women’s side with a mark of 4.01 meters.

Sophia’s sister and 2023 Indoor Pole Vault National Champion sophomore Julia Armaral also had a good showing, placing ninth with a best of 3.26 meters.

Kozjakovs wasn’t done there however, competing in the shot put as well and placing 10th with a best throw of 14.23 meters.

The rest of the VU men’s team was highlighted by he sprinters, led by freshman Tumaini Skinner who placed third in the 200 meters with a time of 22.69 seconds.

Sophomore Cohen Gallant took home fourth place in the 60 meter sprint, finishing with a time of 6.92 seconds, while freshman Clinton Laguerre also took home fourth in the 400 meters with a time of 50.77 seconds.

Skinner and Laguerre then teamed up with freshman Olamipo Ladipo and sophomore Desroy Jordan in the 4×400 relay, where the team placed second with a time of 3:46.05.

The men’s distance team also had a few standout performances Saturday, led by freshman Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) who placed sixth in the 3000 meters with a time of 9:07.29, just in front of teammate freshman Bryaun Manuel (East St. Louis, Ill.) who placed 12th with a time of 9:55.44.

The Trailblazers flooded the mile race, led by sophomore Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) who placed seventh with a time of 4:25.71.

Freshmen Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.), Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) and Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind.) also took part in the mile race, with Spence finishing 17th at 4:35.38, Hostetler placing 23rd at 4:44.57 and Whitehead taking 24th at 4:59.33.

Spence then took part in the 800 meter race where he led the Blazers with a 23rd place finish with a time of 2:04.65.

Sophomore Matthew Gray (Washington, Ind.) and freshman Alex Kwizera (Indianapolis, Ind.) rounded out the VU men’s team results with Gray placing 28th at 2:15.06 and Kwizera placing 29th with a time of 2:16.31.

“The pole vault was probably the highlight of the day,” VU Head Track and Field Coach Marty Rogier said. “Sophia, the top jumper in the NJCAA, broke the meet record by clearing 4.01 meters. That’s two weeks in a row she has cleared over 13 feet and again, took really good shots at 4.12 or 13 feet 6 inches. Olegs claimed the top spot in the NJCAA by clearing 4.81 meters or 15 feet 9 inches and had a good shot at 4.96 meters or 16 feet 3 inches. Not too bad for a decathlete who trains for 10 individual events.”

“We took a shot at a couple more qualifiers but I think we were kind of running on fumes after competing for six straight weeks,” Rogier added. “We try to constantly reinforce with our team that the indoor season is a grind. To train hard and compete every weekend is physically and mentally challenging. Especially with the competition we have faced at every meet.”

“I was pleased with our efforts and I’m hopeful we came away with no new injuries or issues,” Rogier said. “Now we just have to get ready for the National Championships in Gainesville. I’m really looking forward to us competing on the big stage. I’m excited for our program because we have qualified in 14 events. We have athletes ranked number one in three events and four more in the top 10.”

On the women’s side, sophomore Madison Davis was the next best finisher for Vincennes behind Sophia, placing fourth in the shot put with a best throw of 12.09 meters.

Freshman Emilly Barbosa (Sao Paulo, Brazil) led a team of distance runners in the 800 meters, placing ninth overall with a time of 2:27.94.

Freshmen Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.), Jasmyn Self (Casey, Ill.) and Grayson Haynes (Sebree, Ky.) were all close behind, with Fuller taking 11th with a time of 2:32.84, Self placing 13th at 2:39.24 and Haynes ending in 14th at 2:51.83.

Sophomore Gwen Weaver pulled the daily double as well for the Trailblazers, taking 14th in the 60 meter dash at 9.47 seconds and then turning around to place 15th in the 200 meters with a time of 32.37 seconds.

Freshman Zinzile Gumpo rounded out the VU day on the track after placing 15th in the 60 meter hurdles with a final time of 9.84 seconds.

“Overall, it wasn’t a bad meet but it felt a little disappointing coming off last week where everyone ran well,” VU Assistant Track and Field Coach and Distance Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “Tanner, by far, had the best meet out of all the distance runners. He had his best mile ever and came back to run a good 800 on very short rest.”

“The women had some decent season’s bests in the 800 as well, bumping up our 4×800 seed by a few seconds,” Steigenga added. “Looking forward to seeing what we can do for Nationals and hoping we saved our best for the last meet of the season. Everyone will have a weekend to rest up and get in the right mindset for the Championships.”

The ISU Open did have team scoring, a rarity for the VU Indoor Season and the Trailblazers more than held their own, with the men’s team placing third out of seven teams, ahead of NCAA Division I programs University of Southern Indiana and University of Evansville.

The VU women’s team placed seventh as a team, just nine points shy of the University of Southern Indiana.

 

Join Us for a Captivating Virtual Author Talk with Jason Mott!

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