Teams take top honors at GLVC
GLVC Championships
By Manny Casillas | Editorial Assistant
The University of Indianapolis women’s track and field team claimed their first ever Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships title with their first place finish on Feb. 28 at Wabash College. The men’s track team finished second overall behind Missouri University of Science and Technology.
“[GLVC] is a big deal,” said senior Willie Little. “We’ve had a set goal this year to win four conference championships, and these are the first steps to accomplishing that goal.”
The women’s team had four first place finishes, and several other top performances that contributed to the GLVC title win. Freshman Kierra Allen took first in the 400-meter dash, with a time of 57.97. Allen was also named GLVC Freshman of the Year. Senior Emily Schaf placed first in the high jump with a national provisional qualifying leap of 1.67-meters.
In the women’s weight throw, senior Amy Schmitz finished first with a national qualifying 18.24-meter toss, followed by junior Courtney Kuzmicz’s second place provisional qualifying throw of 16.09-meters. Senior Andrea Horban was the other individual to take home a first place finish with her national qualifying 14.50-meter throw in the shot put event. Among other top finisher’s, the women’s 4×200-meter relay finished second with a 1:44.65 time, as well as the 4×400-meter relay placing second with a time of 4:04.51.
The women’s team has taken the GLVC Outdoor Champion title twice; in 2002 and 2004.
The men’s team also had many first place finishers. Little and senior Sam Elmore qualified for nationals with their first and second place finishes in the men’s weight throw, tossing 19.35-meters and 18.43-meters respectively. With a 6.94-meter leap, junior Skyler Mattox finished first in the men’s long jump. Senior Freddie Helms finished first in the 55-meter dash a provisional qualifying time of 6.40. Freshman Nick Seager also finished first with a 7.85 time in the 55-meter hurdles.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team finished first with a 3:23.07 time, 52 seconds ahead of Bellarmine University. The men’s distance medley relay team, consisting of sophomores Josh Gornall and Nick Brittain, junior Cody Parks and senior Mike Landy, narrowly finished second overall with a time of 10.23.88 – re=breaking their previous school record.
Overall the women’s team racked up 186-team points, and the men had 137-team points.
“We have a lot of people who have been working very hard,” said assistant coach Kathy Casey. “We [had] high hopes of pulling away [with] a lot of champions, as well as picking up a lot of points here and there.”
Head coach Scott Fangman was also named GLVC Women’s Coach of the Year. Recently, Fangman had been sidelined due to injury.
“He’s been [at practice] every other day now and has come in for our team meeting[s] the last couple of weeks,” Casey said.
The NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held in Houston, Tex., March 13-14.
Head Coach Scott Fangman receives the 2009 GLVC Women's Coach of the Year trophy after his women's team dominant performance.
