Sophomore pole vaulter for MSU track and field Noah Gary vaults at the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana on Feb. 5. Photo courtesy of Brett Dunbar/MSU Athletic Communications
The SPIRE D1 Invite on Feb. 13 saw the Spartan track and field team finish with some impressive results.
“There were areas that we had some really good energy and others we didn’t, but we are making progress,” director of track and field and cross country Walt Drenth said in a Spartan Athletics press release. “We need to learn some things still. We had some chances to win some events in a Big Ten environment though, and everyone is growing.”
Senior Katie Landwehr was victorious in the women’s 3,000 meter, clocking in at 9:33.84. Junior Molly Jeakle finished sixth with a time of 9:43.51 and freshman Kelsie Schwartz finished seventh at 9:48.16. Freshman Jenny Rogers took 11th with a time of 9:52.28. In the men’s 3,000 meter, senior Chris Collier clocked in at 8:11.07, finishing third in the event.
In men’s distance events, freshman Justin Kiprotich placed second and junior Sherod Hardt placed third in the mile, with times of 4:06.57 and 4:06.98, according to the release. On the women’s end, freshman Kayla Kavulich ran a 4:54.59 mile for sixth place in the event.
In the 800 meters, senior Austin Wissler placed eighth with a 1:53.33 for the men’s event. Juniors Aubrey Wilberding and Erin Billette finished 13th and 16th in the women's 800, clocking times of 2:10.36 and 2:12.23, respectively.
“The distance runners had a good day and competed well,” Drenth said in the press release. “The men’s milers did a nice job, and I thought Justin and Sherod both ran well. The half milers did a really good job of coming back from yesterday’s run to compete today. We are getting closer, and Austin was outstanding in that. I was pleased to have him back on the track.”
The pole vault was the first win of the day for the Spartans — sophomore Noah Gary won first place after clearing 5.18 meters. Jaime Salisbury, junior, came in sixth after clearing 4.88 meters. For women’s pole vault, senior Lauren Chorny and redshirt sophomore Hannah Sailar finished fourth and fifth with 3.97 meters and 3.82 meters, respectively.
“Noah did a really nice job today, and it coincides with just being ready,” Drenth said regarding Gary's first place finish.
In hurdles, freshman Will Agodu finished 11th in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.41 and freshman Maya Roberts took 13th with 8.82.
In the women’s high jump, sophomore Adeline Grier-Welch placed fifth with a clearance of 1.63 meters. Freshman Autumn Robinson led with a mark of 5.63 meters in the women's long jump. Nick Guerrant, freshman, came in with a 2.01 meters in men's high jump, good enough for a top-10 finish.
Sophomore Katelyn Daniels finished second in the women's shot put with a distance of 15.42 meters.
In the 400 meter, senior David Washington ran a 48.19 for a top-10 finish and sophomore Antonio Clark finished for top-15 with 48.74.
The Spartans' next meet is Feb. 20, the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
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