Eight Spartans Earn Podium Finishes on Day One of Big Ten Indoor Championships

Eight Spartans Earn Podium Finishes on Day One of Big Ten Indoor Championships

2/28/2020 10:09:00 PM | Track and Field

Senior Asya Reynolds broke her own school record in the pentathlon, tallying 4,150 points, while both DMR teams finish second.

GENEVA, Ohio – Michigan State track and field began the 2020 Big Ten Indoor Championships with a strong first day of competition at the SPIRE Indoor Track Facility on Friday.

MSU had five athletes advance to Saturday's finals and had six athletes and two relay teams earn podium finishes on day one. Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren was on-site during the duration of the Big Ten Indoor Championships to hand out awards to the podium finishers in each event.

"You have to just move along. Everybody that's coming back here tomorrow has already run a race, and it's just a matter of will. The strength of people's will at this point makes a whole lot of difference," Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Walt Drenth said. "Championships at the end have less to do with talent and more to do with will because there's a lot of talent at the end of the day in the Big Ten Championships in the finals."

Michigan State saved its best for last with strong performances in the distance medley relays. The Spartan women's DMR team of senior Annie Fuller, junior Brooke Bogan, senior Dillon McClintock and junior Lindsey Rudden placed second overall with a time of 11:02.82. The men's DMR followed suit with a second-place performance, ran by sophomore Brayden Law, freshman Zach DiStefano, sophomore Jalen Smith and junior Morgan Beadlescomb in 9:42.89.

Senior Asya Reynolds broke her own Michigan State school record in the pentathlon, scoring a career-high 4,150 points in Friday's pentathlon competition. Reynolds finished fourth overall, composed of 997 points in the 60m hurdles (8.55), 783 points in the high jump (1.64m), 786 points in the long jump (5.79m), 688 in the shot put (12.41m) and 851 in the 800m run (2:17.99) for the final 4,150.

"She's gifted, and she's highly competitive; that's a great combination." Drenth said. "She's been outstanding, and she'll be even better outdoors when she gets implements into her hand that she can throw. I was pleased with the way she performed and it sets a nice tone for the way we're going to compete."

She previously set the school record at the Power Five Invitational earlier this season on Jan. 31 with 4,079 points. Reynolds currently ranks ninth in the nation in the pentathlon.

In the field, Calli Ostapowicz cleared 4.05m for a new personal best and a fifth place finish in the women's pole vault. Mammel took seventh overall in the women's weight throw, with a mark of 20.06m. Trevor Stephenson tied for fifth place in the men's pole vault with a mark of 5.17m.

Also in the field, Niki Sargent had a PR of 19.57m to place ninth overall, while junior Kayli Johnson also set a PR with a mark of 18.55m.

Moving to the track, junior Brooke Bogan advanced to the finals of the women's 60m dash, turning in a personal-best time of 7.44 in the prelims on Friday afternoon. The 60m dash finals will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

In the mile run, two Spartans advanced through the preliminary round with sophomore Katie Osika on the women's side and sophomore John Petruno for the men. Osika set a PR of 4:47.94 in the mile prelims and Petruno battled to a mile time of 4:09.17 to advance to the finals.

MSU will see two Spartans in the women's 800m finals on Saturday, after Rudden and senior Sarah Anderson earned automatic qualifiers into the finals. Rudden won her heat in 2:07.13 while Anderson took second in her heat for a season-best time of 2:08.15.

Seniors Jeralyn Poe and Karrigan Smith both made the podium in the 3,000m. Poe placed third with a time of 9:27.93, while Smith followed closely behind, clocking in at 9:33.69 to place sixth.

"With both groups we had people doubling; Zach (DiStefano) and John (Petruno) in the men's DM. John ran a really nice mile to make the final tomorrow, and I thought he did a really nice job to come back in 1200 meters. It's a tall task to be able to run at that intensity twice; the entirety of the men's team was good," Drenth said. "I thought our women were outstanding and right from the beginning Annie (Fuller) got us off well. Backed up by Brooke and an outstanding leg by Dillon. Honestly, I thought Lindsey was really, really good."

The Michigan State women are in fourth place with 28 points while the men are in seventh with 11.5 points following the first day of competition. Minnesota sits atop the women's standings with 39 points while Indiana tops the men's side with 48.5 points.

UP NEXT
Michigan State resumes competition at the Big Ten Indoor Championships tomorrow morning, with the women's shot put at 11:15 a.m. The first events on the track will be the men's and women's mile run finals which are slated to start at 1:20 p.m.