Franklin Sets School Record as Track and Field Wraps Up Weekend at Meyo Invitational

Friday, February 4

South Bend, Ind.

All Day

Michigan State University

Meyo Invitational

Sophia Franklin at the 2021 Big Ten Indoor Championships

Franklin Sets School Record as Track and Field Wraps Up Weekend at Meyo Invitational

2/5/2022 3:18:00 PM | Track and Field

Full Results (PDF)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Led by Sophia Franklin once again breaking her own school record for the indoor women's pole vault, the Michigan State men's and women's track and field team saw a pair of Spartans place first and multiple personal records set at the Meyo Invitational this weekend inside Notre Dame's Loftus Sports Center.

"I thought the group overall did really well," said assistant coach Ceith Creekmur. "We always ask the kids to just engage in the competition and do what the coaches ask, check off some boxes and keep making progress forward, and I thought they did that."

Action kicked off on Friday with Avery Budz and Olivia Lopez competing in their first women's pentathlon of the season. In her collegiate pentathlon debut, Budz placed used a third-place performance in the high jump at 1.68m to take fifth overall in the multi-event with 3435 points. For Lopez, she had the third-best long jump at 5.40m to earn her sixth overall at 3282 points.

"For Avery, that was the first pentathlon she's done and that's also the first time that she's done three of those five events before," siad Creekmur. "She's never long jumped, thrown the shot or run an 800m, but she's a fighter and she just goes in and engages the competition. Same with Olivia, they both have a lot of upside to what they did this weekend, and I'm looking forward to what they can do coming up."

Autumn Glover also got work in during the women's long jump competition, placing 20th with a 5.13m distance.

Friday's throws action had Valadian Pallett set a new PR with a 16.96m toss in the women's weight throw, finishing 14th in the event, while Joshua DeVries placed 19th in the men's weight throw at 17.26m.

The men's pole vault on Friday saw a Spartan grab first place, as Trevor Stephenson registered a new PR with a 5.45m height to earn the top spot, while Michael Davenport placed third at 4.90m.

"You could kind of see just by how Trevor's been practicing and competing that there was a nice job coming, he just needed to get on the right pole at the right time, and he happened to do that this weekend," added Creekmur.

Only two Spartans competed on Saturday, with Franklin and Calli Ostapowicz entered in the women's pole vault competition. Franklin broke her previous school record of 4.27m with a 4.33m jump, and then topped that with a 4.38m mark on her third try at that height, rewriting the school record for the second time this season and earning her first place in the event. Ostapowicz followed in eighth by reaching a height of 3.93m but was unable to get over on three attempts at 4.08m.

"Sophia got on a stick that she's never been on before and I think the biggest thing with that today was that she was fearless," closed Creekmur. "She did what she needed to and just shut everything else out, and she just went and jumped. That's why you saw what happened today."

Michigan State continues its preparation for the Big Ten Indoor Championships when it heads to the Windy City Invite on Feb. 11-12. Hosted by conference foe Wisconsin in Chicago, the meet will feature fellow Big Ten members Illinois and Michigan.