On April 14 and 15, the IU Kokomo men’s and women’s track teams competed at Tiffin University and Heidelberg University. Both campuses are minutes apart, the throwers competed at Tiffin and the runners competed at Heidelberg University.  

On the men’s side, sophomore Drew Caldwell led the Cougars’ charge. He broke his school record in the 800-meter run, placing 2nd out of five heats, running a time of 1:55.20. On day two, Caldwell broke the 1500-meter record with a time of 4:08.94. Caldwell also started the 4X800 meter relay and ran the fastest leg leading the relay to victory. Freshman Tanner Gibson had a breakout performance, breaking the 11-second barrier three different times over the weekend in the 100-meter sprint. Gibson got his own school record in the 100-meter dash bringing the time down to 10.96. Sophomore Caleb Vogl also lowered his own time in the 3000-meter steeplechase to 10:10.78. Freshman Gabriel Wedmore placed 6th and broke the previous school record in the hammer throw with a mark of 42.10 meters. Overall, the men’s team also had 28 personal records set to go with the six school records set.  

On the women’s side, they set 17 personal records along with three school records. Sophomore Makala Pfefferkorn broke two of the three records from the women’s team in the 100-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles with times of 12.99 and 1:06.82 respectively. Freshman Faith Rock set a new school record in the shot put with a mark of 11.98 meters. Rock is currently seeded 1st in the conference meet for shot put and 2nd in discus.  

Head coach Josh Colvin gave his thoughts on the meet, saying, “Our men’s and women’s track and field teams finally had some great weather to compete in. They competed against some great competition at the Tiffin Distance Carnival last weekend.  Nine school records were set, and 45 personal records were set.  We are rolling right now and look to continue competing at a high level as we close in on our conference meet in a few weeks.” 

The Cougars will compete at the River States Conference meet on April 28th and 29th to close their season.