Trailblazer Track and Field starts season well at John Craft Invite

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field teams had their first meet Saturday afternoon at Eastern Illinois University and had a good showing.

The day got started for the Blue and Gold with sophomore thrower David Beadle (Jamaica) placing sixth in the men’s weight throw with a distance of 13.51 meters and a fifth-place finish in the shot put at 11.84 meters.

Beadle was followed by freshmen Cody Dawson and Jacob Smith who also placed in the shot put. Dawson finished sixth with a throw of 11.33 meters and Smith placed eighth at 10.96 meters.

“David opened the indoor season throwing PR’s in both weight throw and shot put,” VU Assistant Throwing Coach John Matelko said. “All four VU throwers made event finals in the events we competed in today. Using his experience, David opened the season leading the VU throwers. It was encouraging for all the VU throwers to qualify for event finals.”

The VU runners got kicked off with an excellent showing by freshman Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) in the mile run. Stanford placed third with a time of 4:24.96.

Stanford would also place as a member of the 4000-meter distance medley relay along with sophomores Ernest Momodu (Indianapolis, Ind.), Trent Faulkner (Wheatland, Ind.) and Mathew Keitany (Kenya). The team placed second with a finishing time of 10:44.01.

Faulkner would also pick up a second-place finish in the 600 meters with a time of 1:25.23.

The VU men’s runners were rounded out by freshman Gavin Gillum (Indianapolis, Ind.) who took home a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters at 2:29.75.

“Isaac ran a great race in the mile and got a PR,” VU Assistant Distance Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “Trenton got a 1.7 second PR from the same race last year. Ian Boit ran a few second slower than his PR from last year and the Men’s DMR finished off the night with an exciting race. Each guy ran really well after already having done a race earlier in the meet. Isaac and Trent especially ran really smart races and were able to run great last laps and hand the baton off in the lead.”

The VU women’s team was led off by freshman Madison Davis who placed sixth in the shot put with a distance of 11.47 meters.

Freshman Haley Kohlhouse (Vincennes, Ind.) got the women’s runners started with an eighth-place finish in the 400 meters with a final time of 1:15.11.

Sophomore Brittany Page (Freelandville, Ind.) was the top women’s placer Saturday, finishing second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:32.78.

Freshman Daisie Kinnett (Wheatland, Ind.) closed out the day for the VU Track and Field teams with a fifth-place finish in the 3000 meters, finishing with a time of 11:28.07.

“Brittany looked really strong in her opener,” Steigenga added. “She was five second faster than her fastest time indoors last year and a few seconds off her outdoor PR. Daisie ran a very even paced 3k in her first track race in almost two years. I’m excited by our performances today. It was great to get back on the track and see everyone get back into a competitive mindset after not racing for a while.”

The Trailblazer Indoor Track and Field will continue to next weekend when VU splits the squads between two different events. Some members of the VU track team will compete at the Bellarmine Open in Louisville, Ky. Friday, Jan. 20, while the rest will compete at the John Gartland Invite at Indiana State University in Terre Haute Saturday, Jan. 21.

“Our first meet was just really a time trial for us to see where we are, but it was against some nice competition,” VU Head Coach Marty Rogier said. “Eastern Illinois and SIUE both have very good programs that help get us ready for the type of competition we face every weekend.”

“I thought our group performed very well overall and I was really proud of how they conducted their business,” Rogier added. “I think for just being our second year, we are heading in the right direction with the program we want to build at VU.”

“The first week of classes has been hectic, getting some of our athletes on campus and started with classes, so we were without several pieces today,” Rogier said. “We will be adding some pretty good talent to this group next weekend and it is going to provide some interesting possibilities. We will split up the team next weekend to compete in the Bellarmine Invite and a good meet at Indiana State. We will get a good idea where we are after that.”