As part of our coverage in these unprecedented times, UIndyAthletics.com will highlight each of our winter sports by posting detailed season recaps of the 2019-20 men's and women's basketball, men's & women's swimming, indoor track & field and wrestling programs. We continue this feature with a look at track & field.

SEASON FLASHBACK
The Greyhounds had a number of standout performances this indoor season, including three national qualifiers. Lauren Bailey, Brittney Clark and Berenice Cleyet-Merle all earned spots at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. All three were ready to make a big impact on the national stage until a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic intervened.

"All of sudden history plays out," recalled Head Coach Scott Fangman, "but we had a shot. We had a legit shot at the podium. We were seeded fourth going in purely based on our marks. So I was looking forward to that because if that played out, that would have been our best finish ever."

Both Bailey and Cleyet-Merle qualified in two events. Both owned a No. 1 ranking heading into nationals -- the former in the 5,000 and the latter in the 800 -- while Bailey was also ranked third in the 3K and Cleyet-Merle third in the mile.

Meanwhile, Clark was ranked 14th in the pole vault and was hoping to become the first-ever Greyhound woman to clear the four-meter mark.

"I don't think there's a program in a country," Fangman speculated, "that if you had to limit your squad (of national qualifiers) to just three people, could have had a better squad than we had, especially mentally.

"All three women were wired to go. We'd already gone through preliminary warm-ups with everybody. And just simply judging off our warm-ups, I thought to myself, 'this could be a very good weekend for the University of Indianapolis.'"

Of course the trio merely made an appearance in Birmingham; they were not permitted to compete. COVID-19 concerns were growing exponentially, and the NCAA wisely joined organizations all over the world in making the tough decision to cancel its championship events the day before indoor nationals were set to start.

OTHER AWARDS
A number of Greyhounds earned medals at the GLVC Indoor Championships, with Cleyet-Merle becoming the first Greyhound since 2011 to be voted the conference's Women's Track Athlete of the Year.

Five Hounds garnered All-Midwest Region laurels from the USTFCCCA, with Brian Sales and Keri Ertel joining the aforementioned national qualifiers on the list.

Additionally, the Greyhounds combined to horde 13 GLVC Athlete of the Week honors, including 11 of 18 handed out on the women's side.

GLVC TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Keri Ertel (T), Brian Sales (T), Brittney Clark (F), 2/26/20
Berenice Cleyet-Merle (T), Katrinia Hopkins (F), 2/19/20
Berenice Cleyet-Merle (T), Katrinia Hopkins (F), 2/12/20
Berenice Cleyet-Merle (T), 1/29/20
Berenice Cleyet-Merle (T), Jacob Stamm (T), Katrinia Hopkins (F), 1/21/20
Berenice Cleyet-Merle (T), 2/19/19
Lauren Bailey (T), 12/11/19

SIGNATURE MOMENT
When asked about his most memorable moment this season, Coach Fangman landed on a couple of standout performances at the GLVC meet.

"When Lauren (Bailey) took control of the 5000; watching that pace and seeing the mastery. It was like watching a professional at her craft. When you see someone really good at something, whether it's art or music or whatever, man it's just special. And Lauren's 5000 was like that.

Her and Berenice both this year. Watching Berenice compete; you look at it and just go, 'oh my gosh.' You just know."
 

?? | Another ?? for @UIndyXCTF! Berenice Cleyet-Merle is the #GLVCtrack mile champ! pic.twitter.com/09dRdUSxAg

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) March 1, 2020

ALL GOOD THINGS...
Below are all the school records that were broken this past indoor season.

- Sheniya Brown: 60 meters, 7.70
- Berenice Cleyet-Merle: 800 meters, 2:06.80
- Berenice Cleyet-Merle: 1 mile, 4:40.49
- Lauren Bailey: 3,000 meters, 9:28.24
- Lauren Bailey: 5,000 meters, 16:17.70
- Cleyet-Merle, Mary Watts, Yailene Leon, Bailey: women's DMR, 11:42.87
- Brittney Clark: pole vault, 3.97 meters
 
SENIOR CLASS
The Greyhounds honored a group of 11 seniors prior to the final home meet of the season on February 15, including Isabel Bradley, Matthew Cornett, Cameron Engelhardt, Keri Ertel, Deju Miller, Jamie Rhodes, Brian Sales, Rosemary Skripsky, Hunter Slater, Rhonale Terrell and Allen Wright.

HOUND BYTES
Assistant Coach Brad Robinson…
"We had several performances beyond just Lauren and Berenice that were compelling this year, even surprising. We knew the pole vault group was good, both men's and women's side, but Brittney took it to another level this year. Lauren Joseph really raised the bar and was knocking on the door of qualifying for nationals. On the men's side, we had Treyton Arnold, who was on a very progressive upward trajectory and had a chance to qualify until unfortunately he got injured.

"Sheniya Brown, who transferred in, she broke the school record in the 60. That was probably not a record at the beginning of the year that I would have said was going to be broken but was.

"Katrinia Hopkins stepped up quite a bit, and then we had redshirts like Keeton Adams and Zoe Pentecost that had strong performances across the board.

"So it gives us a lot of hope for the future."