Friday, March 29, 2024

Track stars earn Big Ten honors

March 1, 2001
Two of MSU —

The team may have finished eighth out of 10 teams, but that didn’t stop junior Andy Lixey and senior Paul Terek from putting MSU at or near the top of the podium at the men’s track Big Ten Indoor Championships in State College, Pa. last weekend.

Both athletes had stellar performances, as Lixey finished second in the 800-meter run while Terek won both the heptathlon and pole vault events.

In achieving his second-place finish in the 800-meter race, Lixey set a new school record and Big Ten indoor meet record with a time of 1:49.15. He also qualified for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 9-10.

The only downfall was that Illinois’ Jason VanSwol finished ahead of Lixey to capture the Big Ten crown and established the new Big Ten indoor meet record with a time of 1:48.76.

Lixey said the battle with VanSwol was “the toughest race I’ve been in all year.”

“I was hoping to win, but I got beat by a really good guy,” he said. “I wasn’t too upset. I knew if I could stay with him, I could run a really fast time.”

Terek won the heptathlon event by amassing 5,685 points and took first in the pole vault with a jump of 17 feet, 8 1/2 inches. Because there is no heptathlon event at the NCAA Championships, he will only compete in the pole vault event in Arkansas.

Terek said it was a good weekend for him, but there are still areas he wants to improve on.

“My teammates will tell you I’m complaining when I say I could have done better in some stuff - I put a lot of personal-best marks up - but I still think there was a lot of room for improvement,” he said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy.”

Both Lixey and Terek said they fed off each other’s performances during the meet.

“It was really nice because he was doing great (and) the crowd was going crazy,” Lixey said. “And then it was my turn. I just kind of went with it.”

Terek called Lixey “an inspiring kid to watch run” and said he’s looking forward to competing in the NCAA meet with Lixey.

“When you watch him in practice, he’s probably the hardest worker here on the track team as far as getting his runs in and making it hurt on every workout,” Terek said.

With the Big Ten meet behind them, both Lixey and Terek are setting their sights on the NCAA meet.

“I just can’t wait to run against that level of competition and see where I compare with those guys,” Lixey said. “It’ll be the fastest race I’ve ever been in and I’ll be running scared so I’ll probably be faster. That will be pretty neat.”

Lixey said he’s optimistic about achieving his goal of finishing in the top eight among American runners at the meet, which will give him All-American status.

“Pretty much all I have to do is run the meet and I’ll be All-American, which is pretty cool,” he said.

Terek said two weeks ago he might have had the goal of gaining All-American status at the NCAA meet, but all that has changed.

“After last weekend, with the heights I made, I still see a lot of improvement I can make. I think I have a chance to win if I can sneak in there and get a couple jumps in,” he said.

Head coach Darroll Gatson said he was impressed by both athletes’ performance last weekend, especially considering both Lixey and Terek had to redshirt last year with injuries.

“These guys are coming back and competing and there some of the top athletes in the nation in their events, so it’s pretty good,” he said. “I really enjoy watching them compete. I call them warriors - they go to the meet and they go compete and that’s what you want to see.”

Gatson called the team’s eighth-place finish at the Big Ten meet “disappointing,” but Lixey and Terek’s performances helped make it a better meet for the Spartans.

“The great performances sometimes overshadow the disappointment. We had some guys do some great things.”

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