Michigan State University
Big Ten Indoor Championships
Track & Field Readies for Big Ten Indoor Championships
2/23/2023 1:44:00 PM | Track and Field
GENEVA, Ohio – Michigan State track & field heads to Geneva, Ohio for the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Indoor Championships on Friday, Feb. 24 through Saturday, Feb. 25 at the SPIRE Institute.Â
Action gets underway with the heptathlon on both days, beginning at 10:40 a.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday. Live results are available at MSUSpartans.com via PT Timing, while B1G+ will provide separate streams for track events and field events on both days.Â
MSU enters the championship having broken two school records and posting several top-five marks in the conference during the regular season. At last week's Alex Wilson Invitational, the Spartan women's distance medley relay team of Lauren Freeland, Shakira Dancy, Kate Stewart-Barnett and Katie Osika broke the school record with a time of 10:57.60. At the PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational on Jan. 27, senior Heath Baldwin broke the school record in the heptathlon with 5959 points. The Spartans' DMR quartet, as well as Baldwin, will compete this weekend in their respective record-breaking events. Â
MSU's DMR ranks first in the Big Ten this season while Baldwin ranks third in the heptathlon. Baldwin also ranks fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 2.13m. Â
Athletes to watch on the men's side include fifth-year pole vaulter Trevor Stephenson, who posts the best clearance in the conference this season after posting a personal-best 5.55m clearance on Feb. 3 at the Meyo Invitational. Stephenson is a three-time NCAA qualifier in the pole vault and placed 13th in last year's NCAA Indoor Championships. Stephenson is joined by teammate Michael Davenport, whose 5.27m clearance currently ranks fifth in the conference.Â
In the men's sprints, sophomore Noah Sage is set to run the 400m, where he currently ranks third in the Big Ten with a season-best time of 47.01. Sage will also run the 4x400 relay and run the 400m leg on the men's distance medley relay.Â
In the distance events, 2022 NCAA 1500m All-American John Petruno will run the men's mile and DMR. Junior Andrew Lane and sophomore CarLee Stimpfel will run the 5000m, where they rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the conference standings this season. Â
The Spartan throwers will have two representatives on the men's side, with freshman Colby Morlock in the shot put and junior Josh Devries in the weight throw.Â
On the women's side, in addition to their conference-leading distance medley relay time, three members of the DMR will also compete in individual events over the weekend. Freeland, Stewart-Barnett and Osika will each compete in the 3000m, while Dancy will also be a member of the 4x400 relay. Junior Makenna Veen, a second-team All-B1G athlete during the 2022 cross country season, will run her first 5000m of the season. Â
Graduate student Nala Barlow will run the open 400m in addition to being a member of the 4x400. Senior Amani Nuels will run the 60m, where she ranks 13th in the conference this season.Â
A trio of Spartans is set to compete in the pole vault, led by freshman Sophia Mettes. Mettes posts a 4.10m clearance this season, which ranks eighth in the conference. Freshman Natalie Blake and sophomore Breanne Black will join Mettes in the pole vault final on Friday.Â
Sophomore throwing duo Opal Jackson and Valadian Pallett will represent the MSU throwers on the women's side. Pallett will compete in both the shot put and weight throw, while Jackson, competing in her first conference championship, will compete in the shot put.Â
In last year's edition of the meet, the MSU women tied for seventh in the team standings, while the men placed eighth.Â
Following the conference meet, Michigan State will send qualifying athletes (top 16 nationally for individual events, top 12 for relays) to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 10-11. Updated national rankings are available on the TFRRS 2023 Indoor Qualifying List.Â
Players Mentioned
