Track & Field Set For Big Ten Indoor Championships

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State track & field opens indoor postseason action on Friday and Saturday, February 22-23 at the Big Ten Indoor Championships held at the U-M Indoor Track Building in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The championships begin at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday with heptathlon and pentathlon events, followed by action on the track and in the field as the day goes on. The meet will be streamed live on both BTN Plus and FloTrack, and live results will be available on msuspartans.com with complete results to be posted after the conclusion of competition each day.

It will be the fourth time the Spartans have participated in a meet in Ann Arbor this season, after competing in the Wolverine Invitational (Jan. 12), Simmons-Harvey Invitational (Jan. 19) and the Power Five Invitational (Feb. 1-2).

MSU had a week of rest before the postseason, after a strong showing last time out at the Music City Challenge and GVSU Big Meet on Feb. 8-9. Justine Kiprotich won the men's 800-meters in his first race at the distance this season, and was part of the men's distance medley relay team that won the night before. Sophia Franklin finished second in the women's pole vault, while sprinter Joe Stevens III set personal records in the men's 60-meters and 200-meter races.

"I thought our energy has been really good the last couple days, and watching practices I've thought we have had good practices," MSU director of track & field Walt Drenth said. "I feel like with our young people there is good anticipation. You sort of measure it by their level of apprehension, and I don't feel like we have any. I feel like they can't wait to go see what happens."

The Spartans have been able to mix young athletes with potential among experienced upperclassmen who have been to postseason championships at the collegiate level throughout the season. School record holder in the heptathlon, Nick Guerrant, and Kiprotich, NCAA outdoor championships runner-up in the 1,500-meters, have been there before and competed at the highest level.

"I think we can get a nice calm, while also getting excitement from both of those guys," Drenth said. "They're both really excited to get going and see how it's going to turn out. I think from watching those guys in action, if it was starting today they'd be happy."

While it's the first postseason championship meet for several Spartan athletes, they aren't unaccustomed to going up against strong competition at a high-level meet. Michigan State has seen top competition throughout the season at the Power Five Invitational in Ann Arbor, the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, and the Music City Challenge in Nashville.

The Spartans will look for points from Morgan Beadlescomb in the men's 5,000-meters, Kiprotich in the men's 800-meters, and both will be part of the men's distance medley relay team. On the women's side Sophia Franklin will be a top competitor in the pole vault, along with Ellen DiPietro in the high jump. Rebecca Mammel has been consistently above 20-meters in the weight throw, while Erin McDonald, Annie Fuller, Dillon McClintock, Taylor Mullins and Brooke Bogan have all been competitive on the track.

"What it amounts to is convincing the athletes to trust what they've done in practice and what they've seen in terms of progress at the meets," Drenth said. "If they're seeing good progress in the meets and trust what they're doing, they are just going to try and be the best version of themselves and not worry about what it is that's happening around them."

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Players Mentioned

Morgan Beadlescomb

Brooke Bogan

Ellen DiPietro

Sophia Franklin

Annie Fuller

Nick Guerrant

Justine Kiprotich

Rebecca Mammel

Dillon McClintock

Erin McDonald

Taylor Mullins

Joe Stevens III