Spartan Track and Field Continues Indoor Season with First Split Weekend

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State track and field is a split squad this weekend, with half of the team competing at the GVSU Big Meet on Friday, Feb. 14 and the other half traveling to Nashville, Tennessee for the Music City Challenge on Feb. 14-15 at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility.

The Music City Challenges begins on Friday, Feb. 14 beginning at 4 p.m. and will conclude on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. Spartan athletes will also compete at the GVSU Big Meet on Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. with running events and will continue throughout the day, with field events beginning at 12 p.m.

"The nice thing about going to Vanderbilt for some of us is we get to see competition we don't normally see. We just have to see growth – that's probably the most important thing for all of us," Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Walt Drenth said. "Regardless of whether we are at Grand Valley or Vanderbilt or Iowa State, our objectives as coaches are to see where we have grown since the last time we competed."

Junior Morgan Beadlescomb will be traveling to the Iowa State Classic to compete in the 5,000m men's invitational race on Friday, Feb. 14. His race is scheduled to begin at 7:25 p.m. ET.

"For Morgan, he's ready to run at a really high level. He hasn't lost, He ran an All-American, and he's training really well. We promise him these kinds of opportunities, but he's earned them," Drenth said. "It's not just, we want to run a fast 5,000m – you're ready to run a fast 5,000m. This is where we have to find the competition."

// Last Time Out //
The Spartans are coming off a successful weekend at the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana.

A highlight of the meet was the first-place victory for the women's distance medley relay team, composed of senior Annie Fuller, junior Brooke Bogan, sophomore Katie Osika and senior Dillon McClintock, who clocked in at 11:19.48.

Bogan represented the sprinting squad as she continued her success in the women's 60m dash, advancing to the final race and placing third overall with a time of 7.51.

Overall, six Spartans set new PR's at the Meyo Invitaitonal, including sophomore Calli Ostapowicz in the pole vault (3.91m), John Petruno in the men's mile (4:07.46) and Jerimiah Evans in the shot put (18.49m).

"We're not taking people to participate; we're taking people to see how good we can be," Drenth said. "Some of it is where some of the strengths of the meet are but a lot of it is based on as a program, what do we stand for? And if we stand for just taking people to contest, we're not going to get better."

// Live Coverage //
Live results from the GVSU Big Meet will be available at http://sidearmstats.com/gvsu/track/index.htm while live results from the Music City Challenge can be found at http://www.cfpitiming.com/2020_Indoor_Season/Music_City_Challenge_2020/Vandy_MCC_2020.html. Recaps of Michigan State's performances and results will posted at MSUSpartans.com after the conclusion of the meet.

// Up Next //
Spartan track and field concludes the indoor regular season at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Indiana on Saturday, Feb. 22, which will be the last meet prior to the Big Ten Indoor Championships from Feb. 28-29 in Geneva, Ohio.

Spartan Track and Field Continues Indoor Season with First Split Weekend

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Morgan Beadlescomb

Brooke Bogan

Jerimiah Evans

Dillon McClintock

Katie Osika

Calli Ostapowicz

John Petruno