Track and Field Ready for B1G Indoor Championships

2022 Big Ten Indoor Championships
Date: Fri.-Sat., Feb. 25-26
Time: 10:50 a.m. ET (Friday); 11 a.m. ET (Saturday)
Location: SPIRE Institute (Geneva, Ohio)
Live Results: Delta Timing
Watch (Friday): B1G+ (Field Events) (Track Events)
Watch (Saturday): B1G+ (Field Events) (Track Events)
Meet Information/Schedule: PDF

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State track and field teams are set to compete in the 2022 Big Ten Indoor Championships this weekend, as the men are looking for their first conference indoor title since 1999 and the women are seeking their first-ever B1G indoor team crown.

MSU is culminating a season that has seen six school records fall and multiple Spartans hold conference-best marks heading into Friday, with three former Big Ten individual champions all aiming to return to the top spot on the podium.

The final weekend before the Big Ten Championships featured the Green and White sending representatives to the Silverston Invitational and Alex Wilson Invitational, with a pair of Spartans placing first and one program record being shattered. In Ann Arbor at the Silverston Invitational, Sophia Franklin continued to dominate competition in the women's pole vault with a 4.31m vault to take first and Erin McCallum had the top height in the women's high jump at 5.45m, with four Spartans finishing second in their events. The Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame featured the quartet of John Petruno, Noah Sage, Jalen Smith and Morgan Beadlescomb combining to run a school-record time of 9:26.75 in the men's distance medley relay to place eighth, with all seven teams in front of them beating the previous NCAA record for the indoor DMR on an oversized track.

Beadlescomb holds the top B1G time in two different distances, as his 7:43.22 run in the 3000m at the Millrose Games broke the MSU record and was a season-low in the NCAA at the time, while his 3:52.03 time in the Windy City Invite's Magnificent Mile set the program record and was the fourth-fastest mile in collegiate history. Pole vaulter Trevor Stephenson is the other men's athlete to sit atop the conference leaderboard, as his 5.46m vault at the Windy City Invite also ranks 11th in the nation.

Jenna Magness enters the conference meet with the Big Ten's top 5000m time, as her 15:36.60 mark at the Music City Challenge surpassed her previous school record from 2020 and puts her 10th in the NCAA this season. For Franklin, her 4.38m school-record vault at the Meyo Invitational ranks first in the conference and 11th in the NCAA.

The Spartans also have the second and third-best men's heptathlon scores in the conference, with Heath Baldwin's 5701 points and Ryan Talbot's 5599 points coming at the Rod McCravy Memorial, while the men's DMR's 9:26.75 time at the Alex Wilson Invitational ranks fourth in the B1G. On the women's side, Magness' 9:05.62 time in the Indiana Relays' 3000m puts her third in the conference, while Lynsie Gram's 16:15.87 mark in the Music City Challenge's 5000m ranks fifth among Big Ten leaders and Jaiden Paris' 8.35 PR time in the 60m hurdles at the McCravy Memorial also sits fifth in the conference.

For Magness, she will be defending her women's 5000m title from last year's Big Ten Indoor Championships, while Beadlescomb is looking to reclaim the men's 5000m crown after winning it in 2020 but finishing second in the 2021 conference race. Additionally, Franklin is seeking to win her second Big Ten title after winning the women's pole vault in 2019. MSU also has Quiara Wheeler attempting to take the B1G women's weight throw title one season after winning the 2021 MAC Championships' weight throw event while at Central Michigan.

In the latest USTFCCCA National Ratings Index, the Spartan men rank 18th while the women were 52nd.

Following the conference meet, Michigan State will send qualifying athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama on March 11-12.

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Players Mentioned

Heath Baldwin

Morgan Beadlescomb

Sophia Franklin

Lynsie Gram

Jenna Magness

Erin McCallum

Jaiden Paris

John Petruno

Noah Sage

Jalen Smith

Trevor Stephenson

Ryan Talbot

Quiara Wheeler