The men’s and women’s track and field teams secured second place at the ASUN Indoor Championship on Saturday, Feb. 25.
The men’s team earned 178 points while the women’s team earned 155 points. Both the men’s and women’s teams were only beaten by Liberty.
Gaining a school record, Malik Hussie ran a time of 47.86 seconds in the 400, earning the bronze medal.
Multiple Owls took home medals from the competition.
On the men’s team, the Owls took both first and third place on the podium in shot put.
With a toss of 18.86m in shot put, Courtney Lawrence won his first gold medal as an Owl. M. Hussie recorded a new personal best time of 21.32 seconds, winning the silver medal in the 200m.
The men’s 4x400m relay team consisting of Chance Cross, M. Hussie, Tyriq Hussie and Sparticus Griffin came up big. The team ran a time of 3:12.59 to win the event. The time that the team recorded ranks No. 2 in ASUN Indoor Championship history.
On the women’s team, Sarah Hendrick won the mile after running a time of 4:41.99. Hendrick’s time ranks second in meet history.
Tayla Moreland leaped 12.20 (40.0.50″) while Victoria Joyce marked 12.06m (39’7″) to secure their positions of second and third place. Taking the bronze medal in the 60m hurdles, Olivia Brown ran a time of 8.44 seconds.
The women’s 4x400m relay team consisting of Kyndall Hudson, Britney Chatfield, Britiney Johnson and Hendrick posted a mark of 3:46.14. The relay team finished second in the competition. This mark ranks the relay team third in school history.”I really like where our men’s team is heading into outdoors,” Director of Track and Field Cale McDaniel said. “This meet result certainly does not define what an effort these men put together. We scored a lot more points on day one than I thought and I truly appreciate the way they represent our program and our vision. Hats off to our seniors for continuing to believe in what we are doing and helping us to continue to establish a culture of excellence. Again, outdoors is going be a special season with our men.”
McDaniel continued as he commented on the women’s team coming just shy of a few points against Liberty, “When you come up short like that it tends to sting a little worse. We know we have a really good women’s program top to bottom and not bringing home that trophy is tough.”
“I reminded the women that this is the same spot we were in last year before we went and got an outdoor championship.” McDaniel highlighted. “Our staff did a great job coming up with a plan and we just needed a few more things to swing our way. As with the men, I believe this outdoor season will be a very special one.”
Participants that place in the top 16 nationally in their designated event or top 12 in the relay at the end of the indoor season move on to Albuquerque, NM. to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 10-11.
As for the Owls, KSU debuts their outdoor season on March 24-25 at the Don McGarey Invitational in Kennesaw, GA.
