Four Spartans Qualify for NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State track and field athletes Jenna Magness, Sophia Franklin, Morgan Beadlescomb and Trevor Stephenson qualified for the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, the national office announced Tuesday evening.

The back-to-back defending Big Ten champion Magness will run in the women's 5000m, while Franklin, the other 2022 Big Ten Champion for the Spartans, is set to compete in the NCAA women's indoor pole vault competition for the first time. For Beadlescomb, he will run in the men's mile and 3000m races after breaking MSU school records in both, and Stephenson is slated to compete in his first NCAA Indoor Championships for the men's pole vault.

Competition will take place from Friday, March 11 to Saturday, March 12 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.

After capturing the 2021 Big Ten 5000m title, Magness continued to add to her indoor resume this season, first winning the Simmons-Harvey Invitational's women's mile race at a personal-record time of 4:41.31, then placing second in the 3000m at the Indiana Relays with a 9:05.62 PR and winning the 5000m race at the Music City Challenge with a program-record 15:36.60 time. The fifth-year senior then pulled double-duty at the Big Ten Championships, finishing runner-up in the 3000m (9:06.98) before winning the 5000m crown by over 12 seconds at 16:09.73.

Franklin, the 2019 Big Ten champion as well, broke her own school indoor record for the pole vault at the Michigan Invitational with a 4.27m vault in January, resetting the MSU record again when she vaulted 4.38m at the Meyo Invitational. Taking first place in six of seven meets this season, Franklin reclaimed her Big Ten title when she made a 4.32m vault on her first try last Friday, earning top spot on the podium for her third overall conference crown.

The third-place finisher in last season's NCAA Indoor 5000m finals, Beadlescomb got the 2021-22 campaign started by placing first in the Simmons-Harvey Invitational's mile (4:01.22). He then placed seventh in the men's 3000m at the 114th Millrose Games, as his 7:43.22 PR was the top collegiate time in the race, before running the fourth-fastest indoor mile in NCAA history when he posted a 3:52.03 at the Windy City Invite. After helping the men's distance medley relay set a school-record 9:36.75 time at the Alex Wilson Invitational, Beadlescomb then ran another sub-4:00 time in the mile preliminaries at the Big Ten Championship and took third in the mile finals at 4:09.03, before posting a 13:56.61 time in the 5000m B1G finals to place third.

Stephenson placed first in three different meets this season, winning the GVSU Holiday Open and Michigan Invitational titles before vaulting a then-PR 5.45m to take first place at the Meyo Invitational. The Spartan then posted a new personal record with a 5.46m vault at the Windy City Invite to place second and be the top collegiate vaulter at the event.

Michigan State will open the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships at 3 p.m. Friday with Stephenson in the men's pole vault, with Beadlescomb racing in the men's mile semifinals at 4 p.m. (finals at 4 p.m. on Saturday), Franklin competing in the women's pole vault at 6:45 p.m., and Magness running in the women's 5000m finals to close the night at 8:05 p.m. Beadlescomb will then finish the Spartans' weekend when he takes part in the men's 3000m finals on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Michigan State University Athletics

Four Spartans Qualify for NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

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