Postseason: Indoor Track & Field
The Greyhound men’s track and field team was crowned the winner of the 2011 GLVC Indoor Track and Field championships for the second consecutive year on Saturday, Feb. 26, while the women’s team finished second.
Dominating the events both Friday and Saturday, the men won the competition with a grand total of 207 team points to second place Missouri S&T University’s 126 points. The event was held at Wisconsin-Parkside’s Frank J. Petretti Fieldhouse in Somers, Wis.
“Our guys just out-performed everybody else,” said Head Coach Scott Fangman of the team’s 81 point victory.
Fangman said that as defending champions of the title, the team went in with the goal to win.
As a result of their performances throughout the season, six Greyhound men were rewarded with a spot in the NCAA Division II Indoor Track Championships to be held March 11-12 in Albequerque, N.M.
Sophomore Robert Gardner won first place in the 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash, with times of 21.98 and 48.16, respectively. Gardner will compete in the 4×400-meter dash at nationals. Right behind him in the 200-meter dash was junior Jerel Flournoy, who came in with a time of 22.30.
In the mile run, junior Mark Martinez earned points for the Greyhounds by placing second with a time of 4:25:51.
The men’s relay teams also saw success with the 4×200-meter relay finishing first with a time of 1:29:20. The team consisted of seniors Carl Smith and Nick Brattain, sophomore Jermel Kindred and Gardner. Also grabbing the top spot in the relays was the 4×400-meter team of Flournoy, Smith, Kindred and Gardner, with a record-breaking time of 3:15:87. This time broke the UIndy record, along with the conference record, and qualified them to compete at nationals.
In the men’s high jump, freshman Zachary Miller placed second with a jump of 1.93 meters.
The Greyhounds also dominated the long jump competition, with Flournoy winning the event and junior Randall Hudi coming in second. Flournoy will compete in the long jump at nationals. Freshman Blaze Hurley saw a second-place finish for his performance in the pole vault.
UIndy took the top three spots in the weight throw, with senior Matt Royer throwing a first-place toss of 19.31 meters. Royer will compete at nationals in this event. Right behind him in second and third places were senior Nikko Peebles and sophomore Marcus Montgomery. Senior Kevin Keene also racked up points for the Greyhounds by winning the weekend’s Heptathalon competition.
Fangman described the results of the meet as “a lot of fast” and “a lot of far,” emphasizing the team’s strength in the
sprinting and throwing events.
“You always try to do your best,” Fangman said, while stressing the importance of balancing a winner’s mentality with reachable, realistic expectations.
“If you don’t [set realistic expectations], you’re going to get buried,” Fangman said.
The women’s team placed second at the meet with a total of 145.50 points, only 11.5 points less than the 157 points Lewis University earned to win the conference title.
Sophomore sprinter Haley Miller said that while winning the meet would have been ideal, she was still impressed with the team’s performance.
“We had a lot of people that stepped up,” Miller said. “We did the best that we could do.”
Miller was one of the sprinters on the UIndy 4×400-meter relay that took first place in the championships with a time of 3:56:08. The relay also included juniors Delta Martin and Kierra Allen, along with senior Angelique McNeal.
For the women, McNeal won the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.22 and the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.04.
UIndy also saw a first-place finish with sophomore Valorie Wagner’s 5.56-meter jump in the long jump.
Allen scored points for the team with her second-place finish in the 400-meter dash. Shirah Bennet and Jillian Reisinger claimed the second and third spots in the 55-meter hurtles, with times of 8.71 and 8.86, respectively.
But the team’s success did not stop with the races won, records broken or even the conference title. The Greyhounds experienced another victory as they were honored with a series of awards after the meet. Fangman received the Indoor Coach of the Year award for the 10th time in his 15 years with the team.
Due to their performances throughout the season, 13 Greyhounds earned a spot on the inaugural U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region Team for Division II indoor track and field.
The men saw Flournoy in the long jump, Gardner in the 200 and 400-meter dash, Hudi in the long jump, Keene in the heptathlon, Miller in the high jump, Royer in the weight throw and the men’s 4×400-meter relay team receive the honor. The women saw McNeal in the 60 and 200-meter dash, Wagner in the long jump and the 4×400-meter relay team make the regional squad.
UIndy athletes also claimed both the men’s and women’s spots for Track Athlete of the Year, with Gardner and McNeal winning each title, respectively.
The outdoor season will begin on March 26 at the Polar Bear Invitational.
