Sycamores post seven event titles at Blue Demon Holiday Invitational

Friday, December 31 2021 - DePaul Blue Demon Holiday Invite


TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Sycamores took the title in six separate events to highlight their first meet of the 2021-22 indoor season at the Gately Indoor Track & Field Complex.
 
Indiana State took the individual titles in the men's 60m dash, 4x400m relay, men's long jump, men's high jump, women's weight throw, women's triple jump, and women's pole vault on Friday afternoon/evening.
 
Top-Five Finishes Sprints/Hurdles
Ryann Porter was the lone Sycamore to advance out of the women's 60m hurdles preliminary round as the sophomore placed sixth in the field with a qualifying time of 9.04. Riley Tuerff (9.27, 10th), and Mia Mackenzie (9.47, 13th) were both in the top 15 and narrowly missed out on advancing to the finals. In the finals, Porter also crossed the line sixth overall in the field with a time of 9.07 to wrap up the event.
 
Daryl Black (8.37, 4th), Quincy Armstrong (8.44, 5th), and Bryce Byrdsong (8.68, 7th) all advanced to the finals in the men's 60m hurdles event after strong performances in the preliminaries. Armstrong was tops among the trio in the finals after crossing the line third overall in 8.23, while Black (8.35, 5th) and Byrdsong (8.80, 7th) also posted strong finishes in the event.
 
Saadiya Mitchell took on the field in the women's 60m dash preliminaries and finished 13th overall in the field with a time of 8.21.
 
JaVaughn Moore (6.77, 1st) and Shomari Rogers-Walton (6.90, 2nd) finished 1-2 in the men's 60m dash preliminaries, while Jarel Shaw (6.98, 5th) also advanced to the finals after a strong finish on the round. Ejiroghene Biokoro (7.05, 10th) narrowly missed out on joining his teammates with a top-10 finish in the preliminaries. Moore and Rogers-Walton reprised their roles atop the field in the finals with a 1-2 finish, while Shaw turned in a 6.96 to place sixth overall in the field.
 
Sierra Long was the lone Sycamore in the field in the women's 400m dash and was one of six athletes to post sub-minute times in the event. Long crossed the line in 59.56 to place sixth overall in the field in her first event of the year.
 
Three Sycamores were in the top-10 in the men's 400m dash paced by Cameron Stevens' third-place result. Stevens' time of 49.50 put him third overall, while Mitchell Cline and Ben Shepard also joined their teammate with top finishes in the contest.
 
Alexis Grider's 2:33.48 put her third overall in the women's 800m run as the lone Sycamore in the field. On the men's side in the 600m run, Wyatt Wyman finished sixth overall in the field to lead Indiana State with a time of 1:20.27.
 
Three Sycamores were in the top-10 in the women's 200m dash paced by Reynei Wallace's seventh place result. Kamille Gaskin-Griffith (25.88, 9th) and Tuerff (26.24, 10th) were also among the leaders in the event on the evening.
 
Shaw and Biokoro were back among the Sycamore leaders in the men's 200m dash event. Shaw finished sixth overall with a time of 22.44, while Biokoro was one-hundredth of a second behind his teammate with a time of 22.45 to finish seventh. Black added a 12th-place finish with a time of 22.64.
 
Jumps/Pole Vault
Brittney Walker led three Sycamores in the top-10 in the women's long jump. Walker's distance of 5.44m put her second in the field after achieving the mark in her fourth attempt on the day. Gaskin-Griffith finished fourth overall with a distance of 5.42m in her final attempt, while Faith Frye's 5.15m put her ninth in the field.
 
Shomari Rogers-Walton led the Sycamores in the men's long jump event as Indiana State took the top-three spots in the field. Rogers-Walton's 7.52m mark came on his third attempt of the day to take the individual title, while Young III's 7.50m came on his sixth attempt overall. Herron's 7.17m attempt was his first of the day to put him third overall as he hit clean marks on five of his six attempts.
 
Eva Grace Quinlan led the Sycamores in the women's high jump and placed ninth overall in the field with a mark of 1.59m, while Marisa Marshall and Hannah Bryant finished tied for 10th with a height of 1.54m.
 
Lawrence Mitchell took the individual title in the men's event as the redshirt freshman was the lone athlete to clear two meters on the day. His mark of 2.10m gave him the individual title and put him ahead of teammate Krutsch (1.98m, 2nd) on the day.

Porter continued her domination in the women's triple jump event as the sophomore was the lone athlete to clear 12 meters on the day. Porter took the individual title with her jump of 12.13m coming on her sixth and final attempt of the day to lead the way.
 
Selene Weaver took the individual title in women's pole vault event as the lone athlete to clear 3.85m. She hit the mark on her first attempt to lead the field, while Landis Brandon finished third overall with a height of 3.65m.
 
Callan Whitehouse and William Staggs finished 2-3 in the men's pole vault event. Whitehouse cleared 4.85m on his first event to take second overall, while Staggs hit 4.70m to place third in the field in his first event of the season.
 
Throws
Brittnee James saved her best throw for last in the women's weight throw event as the junior was the lone athlete to clear 19-meters on the day. Her sixth throw put her atop the leaderboard with a distance of 19.08m to lead the field. Jayla Bynum also posted clean throws in four of her six attempts with her final throw clearing 15.69m to put her seventh in the field.
 
Brett Norton led four Sycamores in the top-eight in the men's weight throw event. Norton's final throw of 19.29m put him as one of two athletes in the field to clear 19-meters to finish second overall in the field. Noah Bolt (17.72m) was fourth overall, while Brandon Peck (16.84m) finished seventh. Ryan Golliher rounded out the top-eight with a distance of 16.78m hitting the mark on his fourth attempt.
 
Bynum was the team leader in the women's shot put with her 14.77m mark putting her third overall in the field. Hannah Redlin added a sixth-place result with a distance of 13.32m coming on her third attempt.
 
Norton added his second top-three finish of the day with his mark of 17.10m coming on his fifth throw of the day and putting him third overall in the field. Bolt (14.57m, 7th) and Golliher (14.44m, 8th) added top-eight results on the day.
 
Distance
Margaret Falater opened up the distance events for the Sycamores as the senior finished fourth overall in the field in the 1-mile run with a time of 5:36.98. On the men's side, Ethan BreenJason Dworak, and Cael Light all finished in the top-five in the event to pace the Sycamores with Breen's time of 4:27.17 leading ISU in finishing third in the field.
 
Six Sycamores placed in the top seven in the men's 3000m run on Friday evening. Logan Pietzrak's 8:44.89 was five seconds off Illinois State's Matt Blanco (8:39.77), while Cale Killian added a top-three finish with a time of 8:45.30.
 
Relays
Indiana State put two relay teams in the top four in the men's 4x400m relay event. The team of Armstrong, Cline, Napoleon Hernandez and Tahj Johnson took the title with a time of 3:16.61, while the quartet of Shepard, Stevens, Caine Wilson, and Wyman finished fourth in 3:22.62.
 
Up Next
Following the holiday break, Indiana State will be at home for the Coughlan/Mallory Cup against Illinois State on Saturday, January 15, at the ISU Indoor Track & Field Facility.