Butler’s men’s track and field team in action during a meet. Both teams compete in the Big East Indoor Championships from Feb. 22-23. Collegian file photo.
CHRIS BROWN | CO-SPORTS EDITOR | cbbrown@butler.edu
The Butler men’s and women’s track teams will look to improve upon their fifth and seventh place finishes respectively from a year ago when they compete in the Big East Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio, from Feb. 22-23.
At last year’s competition, sophomore Barry Keane finished third in the 5000-meter run before topping that with a second-place finish in the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:07.13. Keane recently won the Ryan Shay 3000-meter run at the Meyo Invitational on Feb. 2 with a time of 8:09.96.
Junior Wade Walder also turned in a strong performance at the indoor championships last year, finishing second in the heptathlon with a personal record of 5,179 points. Walder is coming off an 11th place finish in the men’s shot put at the Friday Night Special on Feb. 15. He also won his first heptathlon of the season with a 5,067-point performance at the IU Relays in late January.
On the women’s side, junior Josephine Thestrup finished fourth in the mile last year with a time of 4:44.91 and fifth in the 3000-meter run with a 9:32.08 finish. Thestrup also finished fifth in the 3000-meter run at the Gladstein Invitational, held on Jan. 18 and 19 in Bloomington, Indiana.
Senior Allie Vogeler, who set a new school record with her first place finish in the 200 meters on Feb. 16, finished fifth in the 400 meters a year ago at the indoor championships.
The two teams are coming off weekend competition in the Friday Night Special and Alex Wilson Invitational on Feb. 15 and 16, respectively.
At the Friday Night Special, held in Charleston, Illinois, freshman McKenzie Greene set a personal best, qualifying for the finals in the 60-meter hurdles and finishing seventh with a time of 8.94.
Sophomores Lily Hess and Rebecca Collester, as well as freshmen Angela Neddeau and junior Madeline Miller, all finished in the top ten in the women’s 400-meter dash. Redshirt juniors Luke Russell and Sam Robinson came in third and fourth, respectively, in the men’s long jump.
At the Alex Wilson Invitational, redshirt senior Johnny Leverenz finished sixth overall in the 800 meters with a time of 1:49.87. Sophomore Jacob Uhl and freshman Clark Otte both finished ninth in the 400 meters and mile, respectively.
Following the Big East Indoor Championships, the Bulldogs will travel to Birmingham, Alabama, for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 8 and 9.
They’ll then begin the outdoor portion of their schedule, which begins with the Stan Lyons Invitational in Indianapolis on March 16 and concludes with the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, from June 5-8.
Follow Chris on Twitter: @cbrownsports
