Breaking records, racking up nine medals and winning four individual competitions, the University of Indianapolis track and field team hosted the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 25-26. The meet, held in the Athletics and Recreation Center, featured 27 visiting men’s and women’s teams.
Amid this competition, junior hurdler Treyvon Matthews came in second in the men’s 60-meter hurdles and managed to break the UIndy school record for the second time.
Matthews and senior Miranda Braun both made the list of All-Region honorees for the 2016-17 NCAA Division II indoor track and field season, which was announced by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Feb. 27. Redshirt sophomore Austin Hogan was among the major winners of the meet, capturing the honors of GLVC’s Men’s Co-Field Athlete of the Year and the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award along with Braun.
Performances by Braun, Matthews an Hogan will send them to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championship. The national meet will be held in Birmingham, Ala., on March 10-11.
Braun will be traveling to the national meet for the first time, ranking 18th in shotput. Hogan, ranked 11th, set a new school record of five GLVC Athlete of the week awards.
This is the first time that Matthews will be taking the trek to nationals as well, and he is excited for the opportunity to compete.
“This is my first year competing at a DII level for Nationals, so I’m kind of excited for that,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a great fun experience for all three of us: me, Miranda and Austin.”
Matthews said he is preparing himself mentally for the meet, as well as working with the teammates to get prepared.
“I try to get my mind set that this is the national meet, that this is the real deal,” he said. “As for the rest of my teammates, like Austin and Miranda, I think they have the mindset that this is going to be the real deal… It’s crunch time and if we really want to succeed, we need to go for it and get after it.”
Following the conclusion of the indoor season, the entire team will begin the outdoor season. The team will first participate in the Bellarmine Invitational on March 31-April 1.
Sophomore distance runner Mickayla Wenzel said that she looks forward to the outdoor meets more than the indoor competitions. She hopes the Hounds will gain an edge due to alternate events in the upcoming outdoor season that emphasize distance running, the team’s strongest performance point.
“Well, for the distance squad, the indoor season has the distance medley relay, which is more geared towards shorter distance, more mid-distance, which we are not as strong in,” Wenzel said. “Instead of having the DMR for outdoor, we are going to have 10K and the steeple, which is really going to benefit us, because we have a lot more long-distance people than mid-distance people. So adding the 10K and 3K steeple will be more beneficial to us than having the DMR, which is more shorter distances.”
Braun, Matthews and Hogan will travel to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championship meet on March 10-11 in Birmingham, Ala.
