On January 19th, the Indiana University Kokomo Track and Field team opened their first meet of the season with a full roster at Indiana Tech.
At the meet, the Cougars, both men and women, performed well and came out with some more national qualifiers and school records. Ethan Carmean became the second men’s racewalker to clinch a trip to the NAIA national championship meet, joining teammate Nick Anders to Brookings, South Dakota after racewalking a time of 15:26.40.
Madison Dotlich posted a time of 17:40.85 to earn a trip to South Dakota. Freshman thrower Sydney Duncan also cliched a trip to nationals in shotput, throwing 13.27 meters (43 feet-6.5 inches) and winning the meet by .018 meters.
Some school records that were broken on Friday were Tanner Gibson’s in the long jump, as he posted a 6.51-meter jump, Julian Wallace’s in the triple jump, posting a 12.79–meter jump, and Rebekah Ankrum’s in the high jump, posting a 1.49–meter jump. Now, with all that in mind here are some key additions as the track season kicks off.
The Men did add some top-level talent from recruiting, as they brought in distance runner Jonas Brooks from Horizon Christian High School.
Brooks is coming off a stellar freshman cross country season in which he cemented himself as a top-level runner for IUK. Brooks will look to carry that momentum over to the track season.
Hayden Nelson is another notable freshman, coming in from Mississinewa High School. Nelson made the state finals in the 100-meter dash and has already made an impact here at IUK.
Freshmen Sprinter Brayden Voght also made the state championship in the 400-meter dash in high school before coming to Indiana University Kokomo, so he will be a vital piece to replace Brubaker in the 4×400 relay and the 400-meter dash. The Cougars have reloaded with talent and could be a threat to place in the top three in the River States Conference in a month.
