INDIANAPOLIS – Held at the Athletics and Recreation Center on the UIndy campus, the two-day GLVC Indoor Championships came to a close Sunday evening with the Greyhound women's team coming in second place and the men arriving at fifth. The women finished with a total of 161.50 points and in the process earned 13 medals in the meet, while the men wrapped up their weekend with four top-three finishes and 63.50 points.
Berenice Cleyet-Merle, who won four of her five events, walked away with her second straight GLVC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year award. Cleyet-Merle claimed her first gold Saturday as part of the DMR team and kept the momentum going Sunday where she competed another four times, capturing golds in the 800, mile and 3000. She upped her total of GLVC records to three, adding league-championship-best times in the 800 (2:15.57) and the mile (4:53.92) to the DMR record set Saturday. The former two records had stood for 14 years and 10 years, respectively.
The reigning national champion in the indoor 800, Cleyet-Merle also lent her talents to the 4x400 relay team, anchoring the squad to a fourth-place performance.
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Those were not the only records to fall, as the school benchmark for the triple jump was beaten Sunday by
Makala Pfefferkorn with a leap of 11.77 in her sixth and final attempt. Good for the bronze medal, the NCAA provisional mark surpassed one of the oldest records in the UIndy annals, topping the 11.48-meter mark set in 2001 by Dedria Foster.
Sharing in the hardware was
Ben Nagel and
Claire Eaton, who each earned the GLVC James R Spalding Sportsmanship Award, given to one student-athlete on each team.
SUNDAY
The field athletes came to play on Sunday with the pole vault crew sweeping the top four spots, racking up 29 points for the Hounds.
Brittney Clark took home the gold with a 3.89-meter vault on her first try at the height.
Lauren Joseph cleared the same height one vault later to take the silver.
Sabrina Robison rounded out the top three with a 3.79-meter mark, and finally
Megan Young came in at fourth at 3.54.
That wasn't the only gold the Hounds picked up Sunday as
Sam DeWitt in the 60-meter hurdles leaped his way onto the top of the podium with a time of 8.15, good not only for a PR but also a provo.
Ailliyah Reese added to the hurdlers success, earning the silver medal for the women with a time of 8.87.
UIndy's final gold medal on Sunday went to
Ben Nagel as he torched his way through the 800 on route to first place, making him the reigning conference champ in both the indoor and the outdoor 800 races.
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Claire Eaton, who has had a quality indoor season, kept that going with a second-place finish in the 3K with a time of 9:54:52.
Eline Pinter finished in the top three of the 800, picking up a bronze medal with a time of 2:17.54.
Shot put featured quality performances on both sides as
Keeton Adams threw his way to a third-place finish with a 17.10-meter toss.
Brock King was right behind him in fourth, while
Zoe Pentecost, just a day after dominating the weight throw, finished in fourth in women's shot put. Also adding points to the board was
Evan Gaylor, who landed in sixth.Â
The final of the big performances from the Hounds was
Ellie Lengerich in the high jump, as she leaped her way into fourth place, earning five more points for the Hounds' total.
SATURDAY
UIndy captured its first gold medal of the event in the throwing ring.
Zoe Pentecost added to an already impressive season, taking first in the weight throw with a mark of 19.16, winning by nearly three meters. She currently ranks ninth in the Division II in the event.
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Later, the women's distance medley relay, consisting of
Eline Pinter,
Mary Watts,
Emily Sonderman and
Berenice Cleyet-Merle, took home first place with a time of 11:48.25. The quartet bested runner-up Drury by more than two seconds.
Action kicked off in the morning with the combined events, where freshman
Ellie Lengerich, who set the school record in the pentathlon earlier this year, represented the Hounds. She captured the UIndy's first medal of day, finishing second with a score of 3284, just shy of her own UIndy benchmark.
The field crew opened up right after with men's pole vault taking center stage.
Cade Priddy kept the medals coming for the Hounds as he finished in third with a vault of 4.51 meters.
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Claire Eaton captured silver in the women's 5000-meter with a time of 16:58.94. Teammate
Melissa Spencer scored points as well with a seventh-place showing.
AJ Goecker contributed two points in the men's 5K, placing seventh.
In the women's long jump,
Makala Pfefferkorn fell just short of the podium with a fourth-place finish with a 5.57-meter leap, good for five points. Lengerich placed seventh to chip in two more points.
The 60-meter hurdles saw the freshman trio of
Ailliyah Reese,
Lindsey Wormuth and
Maddi Turner all qualify for Sunday's final. On the men's side of the 60 hurdles, three Hounds moved on to tomorrow's final with
Sam DeWitt,
Dallas Ford and
Cole Hurt landing in the top eight. In the 400, Sonderman notched a spot in the finals with a time of 58.71, good enough for fourth place.
Hallie Montgomery will be featured in tomorrow's women's 200 final.
The night's final event saw the UIndy men's DMR team tack on one point with an eighth-place showing.
UP NEXT
There is just one indoor meet left: the 2022 NCAA DII Indoor Championships. The best of the best from all around the country are set to battle it out in Pittsburg, Kan., on March 11-12. Stay tuned to UIndyAthletes.com to see which Greyhounds are among the national qualifiers.
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