Four short months ago, Butler men’s and women’s cross country brought home the first two Atlantic-1o Conference titles in school history.

This past weekend, runners from both teams blended with the rest of the track team to try their hands – rather, feet – at another new meet: the Atlantic-1o Indoor Track and Field Championships.

This time, though, the goal was a little different.

“We haven’t been in the conference before, and the conference is ever-changing,” said head coach Matt Roe, “so we didn’t really score the meet out. But we felt like we could win some individual and relay titles, and that was a goal which we achieved.

“Other than that, we wanted to run the best that we had run all year indoors, and use the momentum from this meet to prepare for the outdoor season.”

When final scores came around, Butler’s men had jumped (from being out of the top five on Day 1) to fourth place with 68 points. The women had improved (from eleventh) to ninth with 39. Charlotte took both team titles with 190.5 points for the men and 142.5 for the women.

But Butler’s rather low scores certainly don’t tell the whole story.

One relay team and three individual athletes captured titles at the conference championships this year. Junior Craig Jordan was one of them, winning the men’s 1000m run in a time of 2:27.33.

“I was really, really happy about it,” Jordan said. “It was a long weekend because I usually don’t race that much. So I didn’t really care about the time as long as I won.”

Sophomores Tom Curr and Mara Olson also won their respective races. Curr won the men’s mile, clocking 4:16.48, while Olson was the champ of the 3000m run in 9:46.95.

Olson’s title comes only a week after being named A-1o Performer of the Week.

“It’s been a very interesting indoor season,” said Olson, who’s become a sort of specialist in the 3000m despite this being her first season doing it. “We didn’t have a specific tactic going into the (3000m) race,” she said. “Honestly, Lauren McKillop was the MVP. She got it down to a four-man race, and gave us the opportunity to go one-two. I was happier to finish one-two than to win it. That made up for some of the other disappointments of the day.”

The men’s Distance Medley Relay of Curr, Jordan, sophomore Kellan Strobel and junior Alex Berry took the fourth Butler win. Their relay covered 4000m in a time of 10:00.87, just missing the A-1o record of 10:00.09.

“I wasn’t aware of what the record was,” Jordan said. “We were just running to win it. LaSalle had a guy who could’ve run with Tom (Curr in the mile), but they were trying to strategize. And because they did that, they didn’t have anyone to run a good mile. Tom put 5 seconds on (LaSalle’s runner) even though we were behind by three.”

Along with the four titles, a handful of others finished in the top five positions of their events.

Tom Anderson was runner-up in two events, the 3000m run (8:24.86) and 5000m run (14:25.56).

“It kind of summed up the weekend,” Anderson said. “We were almost there, but we just barely missed out on having a really good meet.

“On the whole, I’m happy. I would’ve loved a gold medal, but that’s just motivation for me for outdoors. And it was a good weekend and some great performances all around.”

Anderson finished just .44 seconds behind LaSalle’s Alfredo Santana in the 3000m and a little more than a second behind him in the 5000m.

“The support was fantastic,” Anderson said. “It was unbelievable. I’ve never raced in an atmosphere like it. It was the highlight of the weekend to see everybody behind the 5k race the way they were. It kind of brought the whole team together.”

Also on the men’s side, junior Ross Clarke finished third in the 1000m run with a time of 2:27.69, while freshman Luke Zygmunt placed fifth (2:29.22). In addition to winning the mile, Curr was fifth in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:56.97. Butler also finished fourth in both the men’s 1600m and 3200m relays.

For the women, senior Kirsty Legg and Olson went two-three in the women’s mile, clocking 4:56.83 and 4:57.97, respectively. Senior Lauren McKillop finished second in the 3000m run with a time of 9:48.74, and third in the 5000m run, clocking 17:11.80.

Despite the rather meager team finish, McKillop said that just being at the Atlantic-1o Indoor Championships for the first time was a major stepping stone for the squad.

“I think we would’ve really liked to finish top six or so,” she said, adding that there were a few people who probably should’ve scored but didn’t, affecting the team score. “But everyone has off days, and I’m happy with my performance. Hopefully we’ll use this as a starting point to do better – I really think it’s going to motivate us.”

Coach Roe said he was “happy with the effort across the board.” He had a few words for his teams after the meet, but according to runners from both the men’s and women’s squads, it was all positive.

“He just told us to remember the feeling we have,” Jordan said. “Whether we did well or didn’t, remember how we feel, and apply it to our training. That’s the one thing he kept saying: remember how we feel now when May comes.”

Coach Roe also said he will review this week’s training before he decides who to send to the Alex Wilson Invitational, the last chance meet for runners to qualify for NCAA Division I Indoor Nationals. Hosted by Notre Dame, Alex Wilson will be held on March 1^st and 2^nd in South Bend, Ind.

The Butler men’s and women’s track and field teams participated in the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame last weekend.

Junior Craig Jordan had the best individual performance for the Bulldogs.

Jordan finished third in the men’s 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:26.31.

Grzegorz Kalinowski of Eastern Michigan and Scott Leitch of Western Ontario finished first and second, respectively.

Senior Lauren McKillop had the best performance for the Butler women, finishing fourth in the women’s 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:40.60.

Sophomore Tom Curr placed ninth in the men’s Meyo Mile with a time of 4:05.35.

Senior Kirsty Legg finished 11th in the women’s Meyo Mile in a time of 4:58.56.

Junior Alex Berry came in fourth in the men’s 500-meter run with a time of 1:04.80, breaking his own school record set last year.

Butler will be sending several athletes to the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., this weekend.

The rest of the team will participate in the Hoosier Hills meet in Bloomington.

Men’s and women’s track sent partial squads to Bloomington this weekend, posting two wins and a handful of top 10 finishes at Indiana’s Gladstein Invitational.

Junior Alex Berry won the men’s 400-meter dash in a time of 49.11 seconds, just shy of his own school record. In the men’s 800-meter invitational race, junior Craig Jordan posted a time of 1:53.63, out-leaning second-place finisher and teammate Tom Curr, who clocked 1:53.69 for third.

Berry was also third in the men’s 600-meter run with a time of 1:22.27. Junior Andrew Wallace posted 1:24.17 for sixth place.

On the distance side, junior Tom Anderson finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:20.70. Ross Clarke clocked 4:19.67, good for seventh in the men’s invitational mile-run.

Also in the top 10, Mick Wang clocked 8.53 in the 60-meter hurdles.

For the women, sophomore Nicole Hudec was seventh in the triple jump. Amy Wright placed ninth in the 600-meter race with a time of 1:43.88.

Both teams head back to Bloomington this weekend for the Indiana Relays.

The Butler track and field team was once again led by the distance squad—this time at Indiana State’s Pacesetter Invitational in Terre Haute last weekend.

The team posted nearly a dozen top-five finishes in various distance events at the four-team meet, including four first-place showings.

Freshman Tom Curr won the men’s 800-meter run, completing the race in a time of 1:50.57 and breaking the event’s nine-year-old meet record.

Also setting a meet record was sophomore Craig Jordan, whose time of 8:58.84 in the steeplechase was good for a victory and broke a one-year-old best time.

The Bulldogs’ other two first-place finishes came from senior Rebecca Howarth in the women’s 5000-meter run (17:23.72) and junior Shelbi Burnett in the women’s steeplechase (10:47.92).

Burnett followed her steeplechase performance with a third-place finish in the 1500-meter run and was also named the Horizon League Women’s Track Athlete of the Week for April 9 through April 15.

Junior Alyson Fosnot took fifth place in the women’s 5-kilometer run with a time of 17:54.52, and Kevin Oblinger finished third in the men’s steeplechase in 9:19.54.

In the women’s 800-meter run, junior Kirsty Legg took second place, and fellow junior Kaitlyn Love nabbed fifth place.

Redshirt freshman Harry Ellis was the fifth-place finisher in the men’s 1500-meter run with a time of 3:57.73.

In the sprints, freshman Nicole Hudec took fifth place in the 100-meter dash, recording a time of 12.83.

The team will compete next at the Mt. Sac relays in Walnut, Calif., and at the Polytan Invitational in Bloomington this weekend.

A tradition that started in the British Isles in the 1800s is now one of the more unique events in collegiate track and field meets.

The steeplechase is a 3000-meter race that involves jumping over 35 obstacles—one every 100 meters.

Barriers similar to hurdles make up 28 of these obstacles, and the other seven obstacles are water jumps.

“It’s different than any other event,” junior Shelbi Burnett, who has competed in the event for three years, said. “It’s definitely fun and keeps me engaged.”

The steeplechase event in track and field is a human version of the steeplechase horse race.

In the original version of the event, competitors would race horses between the steeples of churches in different towns.

Churches were used as markers because they were easily seen from a distance by the participants.

It first became a sport for human runners at Oxford University in 1860.

At that time, it was a two-mile cross country race.

In 1965, it was turned into the flat race with barriers that it is today.

“I really like the novelty of the race,” Burnett said.

In Indiana, the steeplechase is not a track and field event at the high- school level but is standard in collegiate competition.

For this reason, it takes a special kind of person to race the event.

Burnett said competitors need to have the endurance of distance runners and the strength and ability of hurdlers to get over barriers.

Freshman Kodi Mullins said the most important thing, however, is to be mentally tough.

“It’s all in your mind,” Mullins said. “If you think you can do it, then you can do it. You have to have the confidence.”

Mullins said the race is extremely demanding physically and is tough on the bodies of competitors.

The barriers are 36 inches high for men and 30 inches high for women, but unlike traditional hurdles, these barriers do not move.

“If you hit the barriers you’re going down,” redshirt sophomore Craig Jordan said. “There was a professional runner who had to get plastic surgery on his face.

“It’s fun, but if you mess up, you can get hurt.”

Not only are the barriers dangerous, but the race in general takes a toll on the body.

“It’s longer than any other hurdle event,” Burnett said. “It’s jarring and tough, so you don’t race it that often.”

One of the most unique parts of the race is the water jump.

Athletes have to jump over a barrier, but there is water on the other side.

The farther the participant  jumps, the shallower the water is.

“It’s nerve-racking going into it, but I love it when I can just clear it with ease,” Mullins said.

Jordan said he received a crash course in jumping water pits in his inaugural steeplechase competition.

“My first race, the whole team was at the corner by the water pit,” Jordan said. “I didn’t want to clip it and fall, so, out of nervousness, I over-jumped it and landed right in the water.”

This is one of the reasons that Jordan said he now considers the water pit one of his favorite parts of the race—but only when he is a spectator.

“Honestly, my favorite part is sitting down watching it,” Jordan said.  “If you go to the water pit area, you’re watching people fall down, and it’s pretty funny.”

Burnett agrees that the event is fun as a spectator but said that her favorite part is simply competing.

“You can’t race the steeple,” Burnett said. “There are always barriers in front of you to trip you up, but I just like the challenge.”

The Butler track and field team sent competitors to the Miami Invitational and Stanford Invitational over the weekend.

At the Miami Invitational, which was hosted by Miami of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio, Butler grabbed three individual titles, as well as a handful of top-10 finishes.

On the women’s side, junior Kirsty Legg won the 1500-meter run in a time of 4:27.63.

Legg defeated Miami of Ohio redshirt senior Kelley Miller by six-hundredths of a second. Juniors Kaitlyn Love and Shelbi Burnett finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the same event for the Bulldogs.

Legg also took fifth place in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.85.

Rounding out the distance events for the women, senior Rebecca Howarth grabbed third place in the women’s 5000-meter run, posting a time of 17:27.26.

For the sprinters, Butler’s 4×100-meter relay team of sophomore Maddie Cassidy and freshmen Nicole Hudec, Kelly Davidson and Bria Booker came in ninth place with a time of 50.03.

Hudec also finished in fifth place in the triple jump with a leap of 35-5 3/4, breaking her own school record yet again.

Led by freshman Tom Curr and senior Madison Roeder, Butler’s men also came home with a few top-10 finishes.

Curr won the men’s 1500-meter run in a time of 3:47.46 and was followed closely by Butler alumnus Kris Gauson (second in 3:49.02) and Butler assistant coach Andrew Sherman (third in 3:50.65). Redshirt sophomore Craig Jordan took fifth place in the event.

Roeder recorded a first-place finish in the men’s 5000-meter run, topping a field of 34 other athletes and clocking a time of 14:34.92.

Sophomore Mick Wang took 10^th place in the 110-meter high hurdles and sixth place in the high jump.

The men’s squad finished sixth of 14 teams and the women took eighth place out of 18 teams.

Sophomore Ross Clarke and freshman Mara Olson traveled to California for the Stanford Invitational Friday.

Olson finished in 14^th place in the 1500-meter run, clocking a time of 4:40.94.

Clarke competed in the 5000-meteer run, but he was unable to finish the event.

Butler will visit Terre Haute for the Pacesetter Invitational Saturday.

The Butler track and field team had another strong showing, this time at the Mike Poehlein Invitational last weekend.

Despite most of the team staying in Indianapolis, some Bulldogs were able to record strong performances.

Freshman Nicole Hudec surpassed Jen Connor’s 14-year old triple jump record of 34-5 1/2 with a leap of 35-0 ¼. The leap gave her a fifth-place finish.

In the distance events, junior Kaitlyn Love placed fourth in the 800-meter run (2:13.24) and third in the 1500-meter run (4:41.04).

Junior Shelbi Burnett made her way to a third-place finish in the women’s steeplechase with a time of 11:08.71. Freshman Mara Olson finished one place behind Burnett with a time of 11:22.66.

Junior Craig Jordan led the men in the steeplechase, posting a race-winning time of 9:20.94. Freshmen Codi Mullins and junior Kevin Oblinger finished third (9:30.45) and fifth (9:35.85) in the race, respectively.

Sophomore Mick Wang and freshman Kelly Davidson just missed top-five finishes in sprint events.

Wang took sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.28, and Davidson nabbed sixth place in the 100-meter dash, clocking a time of 12.85.

Butler will send Olson and sophomore Ross Clarke out to California for the two-day Stanford Invitational this weekend.

The majority of the Bulldogs will be in Oxford, Ohio, for the Miami of Ohio Invitational Saturday.

The Butler track and field team closed out its indoor schedule with four athletes racing at the Alex Wilson Invitational last Saturday at Notre Dame.

Sophomore Ross Clarke had the strongest showing for the Bulldogs, placing seventh in the men’s one-mile run with a time of 4:01.15.

Freshman Tom Curr was 11^th in the event, while junior Craig Jordan grabbed 33^rd.

“I’d never done the mile before Butler,” Curr said. “I definitely thought I could make it to nationals, but things went wrong. Some days it just isn’t there.”

Junior Kirsty Legg finished 17^th in the women’s one-mile run, posting a time of 4:48.03.

The invitational was a last-chance meet to qualify for the national indoor contest.

Butler was unable to send any of its athletes to the meet, but the Bulldogs kick off their outdoor season with the Stanford Invitational in California on March 23.

“Things are coming along really well,” Curr said. “Everyone’s making their own individual progress, which is nice. I think we’ve got a really good group.”

School records, meet records and league records—the Butler track and field team has recorded them all this season.

The trend continued this past weekend at the Horizon League Indoor Championships in Youngstown, Ohio.

Although neither the men (fourth) nor the women (third) were able to capture a team title, individuals on both sides had strong performances.

Butler’s distance squad made a splash, breaking multiple records and setting personal ones.

Freshman Mara Olson finished runner-up in the 800-meter run, completing the race in 2:13.13.

Olson’s time was just seconds slower than the Horizon League record, which was set by Butler junior Kirsty Legg in 2009.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Livesay

The Butler women also swept the mile with Legg winning, junior Katie Clark taking second place and Olson grabbing third.

“We were really pleased,” Clark said. “I think the girls really ran well, and it was really nice to be a part of it.”

Clark also won the 3,000-meter  and 5,000-meter runs in league-record times.

“I made a deal with myself that this was the end of my season, and I was giving it what I had left,” Clark said.

The women’s distance medley relay team, composed of Legg, Olson, junior Kaitlyn Love and sophomore Maddie Cassidy, clocked a time of 11:35.83, winning the event and breaking the facility, Horizon League and Butler records.

“Overall, I thought we performed at a really high level on both sides,” coach Matt Roe said. “If you look at the marks, there are lots of records.”

On the men’s side, freshman Tom Curr won the 800-meter run in a time of 1:50.67, topping the facility record by nearly three seconds and barely missing a league record.

The 800 was not the only event Curr performed well in, though.

In the one-mile run, Curr, sophomore Ross Clarke, sophomore Craig Jordan and redshirt freshman Harry Ellis crossed the line in first through fourth places, sweeping the event.

Clarke also won the men’s 3,000-meter run in a Horizon League record time of 8:16.50.

“We’d really been hit with a lot of injuries before the championships, which meant added pressure for the distance runners to compete in several events,” Clarke said. “If we’re fit and healthy for outdoor conference, we will definitely improve.”

Butler’s success continued in the men’s 5,000-meter run, where sophomore Callum Hawkins recorded a time of 14:15.55 for another Horizon League record.

The men’s distance medley relay team of Ellis, Clarke, sophomore Andrew Wallace and freshman Connor Love later won their race, falling just short of both the facility and league records.

“The hard training we do every day enables us to maintain fitness post-season,” Clarke said. “It keeps us ready to embark on achieving next season’s goals as well.”

In the field events, freshman Nicole Hudec placed eighth in the triple jump and ninth in the long jump.

Freshman Bria Booker took eighth place in the women’s pentathlon for the Bulldogs.

In the men’s field events, sophomore Nigel Spears took fifth in long jump and sophomore Mick Wang placed sixth in the heptathlon.

All of the Butler women’s 82 points and 80 of the men’s 89 were scored in distance events.

“One of our program’s goals is to have everyone perform best at the championship event,” Roe said. “As well as we performed at the indoor championships, we want to be even better at outdoors.”

While most of the Bulldogs have completed their indoor season, a handful of Butler athletes will head to Notre Dame this weekend for the Alex Wilson Invitational.

The meet is the last chance for runners to post national-qualifying times.

The meet will be run over two days with running events beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Competing in Bloomington for the second weekend in a row, members of the Butler track and field team made further strides toward what could be a record-setting season at the Indiana Relays.

In the field events, freshman Nicole Hudec narrowly missed breaking her own school records in the long and triple jumps, recording distances of 17-7/100 and 36-3 1/2, respectively.

Freshman Tom Curr, representing Butler’s distance squad, completed the men’s 800-meter invitational run in 1:51.10. The fourth-place showing was three-hundreths of a second off the school record set by Kris Gauson.

In the women’s version of the same event, freshman Mara Olson’s time of 2:13.87 was good for third place.

Gauson, now a Butler alumnus, took second place in the invitational one-mile run with a time of 3:59.95.

Sophomore Ross Clarke captured 10^th in the event while junior Craig Jordan placed 11^th.

In the women’s 3,000-meter invitational run, Butler assistant coach and Olympic hopeful Mason Cathey crossed the line in 9:21.52 to grab first place. Junior Katie Clark finished in second place in 9:22.17, and junior Kirsty Legg took third with a time of 9:23.12.

Rounding out the distance events was senior Rebecca Howarth, who placed eighth in the women’s invitational 5,000-meter with a time of 17:24.54.

Sophomore Nigel Spears recorded an eighth-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 21-10.

The Bulldogs will make their next appearance at Notre Dame’s Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind., on Friday.