Track and Field team hosts Gerry England Open at ARC
The University of Indianapolis track and field team hosted the Gerry England Open on Saturday Dec. 8, winning eight events at the meet.
Junior Zach Little led the Greyhounds with a personal best of 2.04 meters in the men’s high jump. Little won the event with the leap, which proved to be a provisional mark.
Others winning for the Greyhounds included juniors Vincent Georgescu for the men and Sutton Knapp for the women, who each won the one-mile run.
On Saturday, Dec. 1, UIndy hosted its first Track and Field Invitational in the Athletics and Recreational Center.
Senior sprinter/hurdler Valorie Parker had a time of 28.10 in the 200-meter dash and also won the women’s long jump with a distance of 5.40 meters. Sophomore thrower Carlynn Carter won the women’s weight throw with a distance of 16.10 meters. Junior jumper Jacob Aldrich won the men’s pole vault with a distance of 4.70 meters, and junior thrower T.J. Lovejoy threw a distance of 17.90 meters in the men’s weight throw.
Carter, Aldrich and Lovejoy all made NCAA provisional marks at the invitational.
Head Coach Scott Fangman thought his team competed well at the invitational. However, he believes it is just a start. Fangman said he would like to get four conference championships out of his team this year, as well as placing well nationally.
“On the men’s side, we would like to finish in the top ten in the nation and get the women there, too,” he said.
Senior thrower Katy Watson said that competing in the early meets helps develop the team.
“Last week, not everyone was out throwing. But this upcoming meet there will be three more people throwing than in the last meet,” Watson said. “These first couple December meets are really just to build confidence and put us in that competitive mind set.”
Watson will compete this spring with the track and field team after taking a year off, but she has used that time to become stronger and faster. She is hoping to achieve new personal records once the season starts and to qualify for nationals.
“I’d like to finish this year out with my teammates and make sure that everyone pushes each other to their best,” Watson said.
Watson said the team has had many good throwers over the past few years, and she believes that will carry over into this upcoming season.
“I think as a whole, we are all really strong. We’ve definitely come together recently, in all of the events,” she said.
Fangman has a very positive outlook for the men’s team this year.
“We are thinking that we may have the strongest indoor team on the men’s side that we’ve ever had,” he said.
Fangman believes that Ashland University, Grand Valley State University, Lewis University and Missouri S&T will be the team’s toughest competitors this year, but said that the team will work hard to defend their reputation.
“Having that history of winning conference titles and sending people to nationals definitely makes you hungry to do it again,” Watson said. “We want to keep working hard to keep the standard going of what other people have done.”
