INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis women’s team and Lewis University men’s squad lead after the first day of the 2024 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Indoor Track and Field Championships, which are being held at the Fall Creek Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
The Greyhound women totaled 62 points on the opening day and hold a 14-point advantage over second-place Lewis (48), while Southwest Baptist University (38), Maryville University (14), and Missouri S&T (9) follow in third through fifth. Truman State University (8) and Drury University (6) are set at sixth and seventh, followed by University of Illinois Springfield (5), William Jewell College (4), and Rockhurst University (1) to round out the top 10. McKendree University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Quincy University, and Upper Iowa University have yet to score in the 14-team field.
On the men’s side, the Flyers have 59 points, which is 21 ahead of second-place Indianapolis (38). Missouri S&T (27) is third, while Truman State (14) sits in fourth. Southwest Baptist (11) and Illinois Springfield (11) are currently tied at fifth, with Missouri St. Louis (9) collecting the seventh-place spot. Drury (8), and Maryville (8) are tied to make up eighth place, while William Jewell (5), Rockhurst (4), and McKendree (1) round out 10th through 12th. Quincy has yet to score in the 13-team field.
Individually, medals were earned in the women’s pentathlon and men’s pole vault, as well as the men’s and women’s weight throw, long jump, 5,000-meter run, and Distance Medley Relay.
The day began with a bang as Indianapolis’ Ellie Lengerich (3,790 points) shattered the GLVC pentathlon record by 99 points, while Lily Simmons of SBU (3,389) took silver as both earned NCAA Provisional scores. S&T’s Maya Wright (3,241) rounded out the podium in third place.
In the men’s pole vault, Lewis’ Kevin Cousins (4.96 meters) captured the title and reached the NCAA Provisional clearance. UIndy’s Treyton Arnold (4.86m) earned second place and SBU’s Brayden Housh (4.56m) took home bronze.
In the throw cage, Flyer sophomore Levi Graham broke the league's record in the Weight Throw with a toss of 20.93 meters, with Truman's Jacob Morris earning silver (20.79m), and S&T's Jacob Luebbert picking up bronze (20.77m). All three medalists surpassed the national provisional distance. On the women’s side, the Greyhounds were dominant, earning the top-four spots in the event. Zoe Pentecost (19.83m) took gold by 2.47 meters, while Audra Hogan (16.36) narrowly beat Emily Bonser (16.35) for the runner-up spot.
At the jumping pits, UIndy freshman Alex Meyer (7.27 meters) claimed the No. 1 position in the Long Jump, reaching the NCAA Provisional mark, as well. For the women, Bearcat senior Madison Hicks collected the gold medal after a leap of 5.78 meters, being joined by second-place Denise Hernandez of Lewis (5.69m) in meeting the D-II Provisional standard.
The Flyers garnered gold in both 5,000-meter races, as Evan Horgan (14:34.03) crossed the line first in the men’s event and Hannah Smrcka (16:41.92) won the women’s edition by more than 45 seconds. Smrcka reached the national provisional time with her performance.
In the DMR, the SBU women (11:56.47) bested Truman (11:57.11) by .64 seconds, while Lewis (11:57.54) claimed third, with all three teams posting NCAA Provisional times. UIndy (10:04.10) claimed the top spot for the men, ahead of Drury (10:05.78) and Lewis (10:07.97).
This is the first time in the 24-year history of the sport in the GLVC that the Championships have been run on a banked track, so new meet records will be established in all track events except for the 60m Dash and 60m Hurdles. In the women’s 200m preliminaries, SBU’s Collinique Farrington was faster than the GLVC flat-track record of 24.43 with a time of 23.78.
There were numerous athletes that met NCAA Provisional marks in their respective preliminary events during Saturday’s action, as well. Lewis’ Rose Ogbuli (24.59), Drury’s Ashley Childers (24.65), and UIndy’s Hallie Montgomery (24.71) joined Farrington in reaching the national provisional standard in the 200m, while the SBU runner also hit the D-II mark in the 400m (55.12). Flyer teammates Khristel Martindale (7.51) and Ogbuli (7.54) made the NCAA cut in the 60-meter Dash, as well as Lewis’ Tyler Toussaint (6.84) for the men.
The top-three finishers in all finals events are named All-Conference honorees.
Sunday’s docket opens with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon, as Lewis’ Nicholas Stanislaus (2,649 points), Truman’s Hayden Long (2,612), and S&T’s Caleb Craft (2,558) currently hold the top-three positions.
In Sunday’s field events, the men will compete in the finals of the high jump, triple jump, and shot put, while the women will crown winners in the high jump, triple jump, shot put, and pole vault. The field events open at 11:00 AM ET.
Running events commence at 1:00 PM with the mile run before the 60-meter hurdles get underway at 2:10 PM. The 400-, 60-, 800-, 200-, and 3,000-meter races will also take place in that order throughout the afternoon and evening, before the event concludes with the 4x400-meter relay at 4:50 PM.
Sunday’s action will once again be available for free on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.
In addition to GLVCSN's coverage, more details and live results of the Conference meet are available at
GLVCsports.com/2024indoor, while fans can also keep up with the event on Twitter/X by following the league's official accounts at @GLVCsports and @GLVCSN, as well as the hashtags #GLVCtrack and #GLVCchamps, with additional coverage available on the GLVC's Instagram account (@glvcsports).