Friday, April 19
Charlottesville, Va.
All Day
Michigan State University
at
Virginia Challenge
MSU Track & Field Opens Virginia Challenge Friday
4/17/2019 10:40:00 PM | Track and Field
The Spartans are set for a big weekend of competition in Charlottesville.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State track & field heads to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Virginia Challenge Friday-Saturday, April 19-20 at Lannigan Field as the regular season hits the home stretch.
The start of competition on Friday has been moved up to 9 a.m. ET due to forecasted heavy rains and the potential for thunderstorms in the afternoon. Further updates and changes to the meet schedule will be posted to msuspartans.com and twitter at @MSUTrackFieldXC, with live results links also available on msuspartans.com and twitter.
MEET SCHEDULE | LIVE RESULTS
Currently, there are 52 schools and one club team (a total of 92 male and female teams) competing this weekend at the Virginia Challenge, hosted by the University of Virginia.
"We always get a national level of competition at this meet and it's been good for a few years, but also seems to get better every year," Director of track & field Walt Drenth said. "It's a relatively easy trip for us, they've always been good to us and I think it's a meet we will continue to attend because of the level of competition."
The meet is scheduled to get underway with the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, men's and women's triple jump and men's and women's pole vault going off simultaneously on Friday morning. It will also be the first meet of the outdoor season to have multi-events included, allowing junior Nick Guerrant to compete in the decathlon on the men's side and junior Asya Reynolds in the heptathlon on the women's side.
The Spartans are coming off a strong showing a week ago at the Louisville Invitational, taking six event titles and posting several personal records along the way, but leaving campus Wednesday evening gave the athletes just a couple days of rest in East Lansing before a travel day and practice in Virginia on Thursday.
"I think the point of emphasis has been mainly on this meet, so for most of us what we did last week was preparation for the week coming up," Drenth said. "Whatever races we ran last weekend, I think we were trying to fine tune, but it's a big meet this week. I think all of the coaches are cognizant of last week's trip in terms of fatigue. We've made some adjustments to make sure we're good to go when we get there."
On the track in Louisville, Junior Carlyn Arteaga won the women's 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:22.95, and MSU made it a sweep in the 1,500 as sophomore Morgan Beadlescomb took the men's victory in a time of 3:50.44. Senior Justine Kiprotich won his second race in as many starts this season, taking the men's 800-meters in a time of 1:51.25. Kiprotich won the 1,500-meters to open the season at the Raleigh Relays two weeks ago. The Spartans got another victory in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase when junior Mackenzie Weiler crossed the finish line in 10:36.44.
In the field events, the Spartans brought home a win in the women's shot put from sophomore Kayli Johnson, who posted a new personal best with a toss of 15.87 meters. Senior Shelby Allen took the second field event win of the day, earning the women's triple jump title with a personal record leap of 12.40 meters.
With just one more weekend of competition before the Big Ten Championships in May, Michigan State is looks to continue setting qualifying marks for Regionals.
"We have to keep getting better, there's no doubt," Drenth said. "When you look at the descending order list in the Big Ten and where we are on the national list we have some really exceptional bright spots, but we've got to shore up our depth and just get better. I think even the people who are high up on our list need to continue making progress. Re-introducing ourselves to a national level of competition is going to be important. It's about getting in the right frame of mind this weekend across the board for us."
The start of competition on Friday has been moved up to 9 a.m. ET due to forecasted heavy rains and the potential for thunderstorms in the afternoon. Further updates and changes to the meet schedule will be posted to msuspartans.com and twitter at @MSUTrackFieldXC, with live results links also available on msuspartans.com and twitter.
MEET SCHEDULE | LIVE RESULTS
Currently, there are 52 schools and one club team (a total of 92 male and female teams) competing this weekend at the Virginia Challenge, hosted by the University of Virginia.
"We always get a national level of competition at this meet and it's been good for a few years, but also seems to get better every year," Director of track & field Walt Drenth said. "It's a relatively easy trip for us, they've always been good to us and I think it's a meet we will continue to attend because of the level of competition."
The meet is scheduled to get underway with the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, men's and women's triple jump and men's and women's pole vault going off simultaneously on Friday morning. It will also be the first meet of the outdoor season to have multi-events included, allowing junior Nick Guerrant to compete in the decathlon on the men's side and junior Asya Reynolds in the heptathlon on the women's side.
The Spartans are coming off a strong showing a week ago at the Louisville Invitational, taking six event titles and posting several personal records along the way, but leaving campus Wednesday evening gave the athletes just a couple days of rest in East Lansing before a travel day and practice in Virginia on Thursday.
"I think the point of emphasis has been mainly on this meet, so for most of us what we did last week was preparation for the week coming up," Drenth said. "Whatever races we ran last weekend, I think we were trying to fine tune, but it's a big meet this week. I think all of the coaches are cognizant of last week's trip in terms of fatigue. We've made some adjustments to make sure we're good to go when we get there."
On the track in Louisville, Junior Carlyn Arteaga won the women's 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:22.95, and MSU made it a sweep in the 1,500 as sophomore Morgan Beadlescomb took the men's victory in a time of 3:50.44. Senior Justine Kiprotich won his second race in as many starts this season, taking the men's 800-meters in a time of 1:51.25. Kiprotich won the 1,500-meters to open the season at the Raleigh Relays two weeks ago. The Spartans got another victory in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase when junior Mackenzie Weiler crossed the finish line in 10:36.44.
In the field events, the Spartans brought home a win in the women's shot put from sophomore Kayli Johnson, who posted a new personal best with a toss of 15.87 meters. Senior Shelby Allen took the second field event win of the day, earning the women's triple jump title with a personal record leap of 12.40 meters.
With just one more weekend of competition before the Big Ten Championships in May, Michigan State is looks to continue setting qualifying marks for Regionals.
"We have to keep getting better, there's no doubt," Drenth said. "When you look at the descending order list in the Big Ten and where we are on the national list we have some really exceptional bright spots, but we've got to shore up our depth and just get better. I think even the people who are high up on our list need to continue making progress. Re-introducing ourselves to a national level of competition is going to be important. It's about getting in the right frame of mind this weekend across the board for us."
Players Mentioned
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Multi
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Multi
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldProcess Oriented | Spartans All-Access
Wednesday, April 02
Track & Field | Big Ten Outdoor Championship recap
Monday, May 13
Track & Field | Big Ten Outdoor Championships highlights
Saturday, May 11
Track & Field | Big Ten Outdoor Championships | Day 2
Saturday, May 11