VU Track and Field adds more National Qualifiers after busy weekend at Little State

MARION, Ind. – The Vincennes University Men's and Women's Track and Field teams put together another great weekend at the 2024 Indiana Little State Championships hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University.

The busy weekend actually got started on Thursday when VU sophomore and 2024 Indoor Heptathlon National Champion Olegs Kozjakovs made the short trip up to Terre Haute to take part in a two-day Decathlon at the 2024 Gibson Invitational.

Kozjakovs had a great showing in the events, competing against NCAA Division I athletes, taking the top spot in the shot put, discus and pole vault events to claim the top spot in the Decathlon with a total of 6,778 points.

"It was a long, cold weekend but we managed to accomplish a lot with the team," VU Head Track and Field Coach Marty Rogier said. "The conditions, again, were cold and windy. I thought our team still competed very well."

"Olegs got things started Thursday and Friday by winning the decathlon at the ISU Gibson Invite," Rogier added. "The goal was just to survive and qualify in this 10-event competition. He had a steady performance with nothing great but nothing bad. His 6,778 points was still good for second on the National list and very close to a school record."

The rest of the VU Track and Field teams headed up to Marion Friday for the first day of the two-day Little State Championships, where the Blazers again had a very good showing.

The VU men's team scorers were led off by sprinters Olamipo Ladipo, 2024 Indoor 600 meter National Champion Desroy Jordan, Tumaini Skinner and Malik Ferdinand.

Ladipo and Jordan claimed a one-two finish in the 200 meter sprint, with Ladipo edging out Jordan with a time of 21.83 seconds, to Jordan's 21.87 seconds.

Skinner and Ferdinand also claimed a one-two finish, this time in the 400 meter dash, with Skinner taking the top spot with a time of 49.93 and Ferdinand close behind at 50.43.

On the distance side, sophomore Isaac Stanford (Flora, Ill.) got the scoring started for the Blazers by taking third in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.77 and a second-place finish in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:56.45.

Freshman Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) took home fourth place in the 10k, crossing the finish line with a final time of 33:28.64.

Freshman Clinton Laguerre kept the action going in the 400 meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 54.08 seconds, good for second place and a National Qualifier.

Freshman Brahym Sakka (Tunisia) placed fourth in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:40.00 before teaming up with sophomores Matthew Gray (Washington, Ind.) and Isaac Stanford, as well as freshman Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.) to take seventh in the 4x800 relay with a time of 7:57.43.

The VU relay team of Tumaini Skinner, Clinton Laguerre, Olamipo Ladipo and Desroy Jordan closed out the VU scoring by taking third in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:24.43.

The Vincennes University men's team took home second place as a team at the Little State Championships after scoring a total of 76 points over the weekend meet.

"We then moved to Indiana Wesleyan with the rest of the team to compete in the Little State Championships," Rogier said. "This is a really great meet and I learned that this is the second longest running invitational in the United States. It's the one meet we focus on trying to score as a team and not so much on individual performance."

"The men had a good day, finishing second as a team," Rogier added. "It was a really nice achievement being the only two-year school there. The sprint group competed well, going one-two in the 200 and 400 and taking second in the 400 hurdles."

"Clinton did a nice job, qualifying for Nationals in the hurdles, even against those tough conditions," Rogier said. "Oladipo and Tumaini also ran very good races to win the 200 and 400. The times obviously were slower than what we would expect, but I was very happy with the effort."

"Matthew Gray led off the men's 4x800 with a 1:58 split, which is unofficially his first time breaking two minutes in the 800," VU Assistant Coach and Distance Coach Tyler Steigenga said. "He had a really solid leg and will be looking to go under two minutes in an open 800 in the next two weeks."

"Cody finished his first 10k ever in a solo effort," Steigenga added. "He finished off the National qualifying standard but ran a pretty even effort, gaining a lot of valuable experience at the distance."

"In the men's 3000 meter steeplechase, Brahym got his first National qualifier, which puts him 20th in the NJCAA and sixth in VU history," Steigenga said. "Caden and Nathan had solid debuts in the steeple. Caden led for all but the last 600 meters of the race and finished second in his heat."

"In the 1500 meter races, Bryaun, Alex and Max all got a PR," Steigenga added. "Isaac ran a good race in the last heat to finish second overall, just missing out on first by three hundredths of a second. Isaac got himself a little too boxed in the first two laps. He was out of position but managed to make up a lot of ground and nearly get the win. All of the men came back to run the 800, with Isaac taking third overall being the highlight of that event."

The scoring on the VU women's team was led off by another outstanding performance by 2024 Indoor National Champion pole vaulter Sophia Amaral and 2023 Indoor National Champion pole vaulter Julia Amaral.

Sophia again claimed the top spot in the pole vaulting event, setting the high mark by clearing 3.75 meters.

Julia also had a good day, battling through the cold and windy conditions to take fourth after clearing a height of 3.40 meters.

Freshman Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.) was the leading scorer on the track for the VU women's team, taking third place in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 11:54.29, qualifying for Nationals.

Freshman Zinzile Gumpo took home fifth place in the 100 meter hurdles, crossing the line with a time of 15.50 seconds.

The relay teams of freshmen Adi Fuller, Emilly Barbosa (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Grayson Haynes (Sebree, Ky.) and Jasmyn Self (Casey, Ill.), pulled double duty over the weekend, taking sixth place in both the 4x400 relay and the 4x800 relay with times of 4:27.51 and 10:12.38.

Barbosa would then branch out on her own to close out the scoring for the VU women's team at Little State, claiming seventh place in the 800 meters with a time of 2:20.38.

The VU women's team took home 11th place overall as a team, with a final total of 33 points scored over the weekend meet.

"Sophia and Julia survived the cold to go first and fourth in the pole vault," Rogier said. "It is very hard to jump with the elements being what they were. But I think we still learned some things that will help in the coming meets."

"On Friday, the women's 4x800 team got things going with a new season best time of 10:12, running 13 seconds faster than their time at Indoor Nationals," Steigenga said. "The 3000m steeplechase was the first event Saturday morning and Adi ran a great race, getting a National qualifier which puts her 10th in the NJCAA and fourth in school history."

"In the women's 1500, Jasmyn came away with a two-second PR and Grayson a six second PR," Steigenga added. "Emilly was the lone woman to run the 800 for VU and finished in seventh place."

"It was an awesome weekend for us as we were able to pick up a lot of points and finish second in the team competition," Steigenga said. "Despite the fact that a lot of our times were not as fast as we wanted with some very windy conditions, we were able to focus on racing and end up placing well in a lot of different events."

The VU Track and Field teams will continue to look to improve and add even more National Qualifiers as they head into the final two tune up meets before heading to the 2024 NJCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships Thursday, May 16 through Saturday, May 18 in Monroe, La.

The Trailblazers will head to Terre Haute, Ind. next weekend for the one-day ISU Sycamore Open, hosted by Indiana State University Saturday, April 27, before heading to their final meet of the 2024 Outdoor regular season Friday, May 3 at the 2024 Billy Hayes Invitational, hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington.

"We have had three meets this outdoor season and all have been in cold and windy conditions, making it difficult to hit the marks we believe we can," Rogier said. "We still have two meets before the National Championships and I'm hoping we can get a break from the weather so we can perform at the level we are capable of."

FULL VINCENNES RESULTS

GIBSON INVITATIONAL

DECATHLON

Olegs Kozjakovs – 1, 6,778 points

100m – 6, 11.55, 742 points

Long Jump – 3, 6.47m, 691 points

Shot Put – 1, 14.32m, 748 points

High Jump – 4, 1.85m, 670 points

400m – 5, 52.35, 709 points

110 Hurdles – 5, 16.10, 722 points

Discus – 1, 41.50m, 695 points

Pole Vault – 1, 4.75m, 834 points

Javelin – 8, 41.64m, 466 points

1500m – 12, 5:10.39, 501 points

LITTLE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

VU MEN'S RESULTS

200m

Olamipo Ladipo – 1, 21.83

Desroy Jordan – 2, 21.87

400m

Tumaini Skinner – 1, 49.93

Malik Ferdinand – 2, 50.43

Matthew Gray – 18, 52.95

800m

Isaac Stanford – 3, 1:55.77

Brahym Sakka – 21 1:59.03

Bryaun Manuel – 37, 2:03.39

Tanner Spence – 38, 2:03.42

Matthew Gray – 40, 2:03.83

Caden Hostetler – 44, 2:05.16

Nathan Whitehead – 54, 2:10.28

Alex Kwizera – 58, 2:13.80

Max Pendley – 60, 2:15.98

1500m

Isaac Stanford – 2, 3:56.45

Tanner Spence – 24, 4:12.36

Bryaun Manuel – 42, 4:28.25

Alex Kwizera – 48, 4:38.38

Max Pendley – 50, 4:43.32

10,000m

Cody Noel – 4, 33:28.64

400m Hurdles

Clinton Laguerre – 2, 54.08

Zion Pruitt – 15, 59.33

3000m Steeplechase

Brahym Sakka – 4, 9:40.00

Caden Hostetler – 13, 10:13.04

Nathan Whitehead – 20, 10:46.43

4x400 Relay

(Skinner, Laguerre, Ladipo, Jordan) – 3, 3:24.43

4x800 Relay

(Gray, Stanford, Spence, Sakka) – 7, 7:57.43

Discus

Olegs Kozjakovs – 17, 35.72m

Jacob Wickman – 23, 33.94m

Hammer

Jacob Wickman – 18, 38.62m

Jacob Smith – 27, 33.93m

Javelin

Jeremiah Ziebart – 9, 43.62m

Jake Terrell – 13, 40.88m

WOMEN'S RESULTS

100m

Gwen Weaver – 27, 15.04

800m

Emilly Barbosa – 7, 2:20.38

1500m

Emilly Barbosa – 20, 5:07.96

Jasmyn Self – 26, 5:20.21

Grayson Haynes – 34, 5:41.99

100m Hurdles

Zinzile Gumpo – 5, 15.50

3000m Steeplechase

Adi Fuller – 3, 11:54.29

4x400 Relay

(Fuller, Self, Haynes, Barbosa) – 6, 4:27.51

4x800 Relay

(Fuller, Barbosa, Self, Haynes) – 6, 10:12.38

Pole Vault

Sophia Amaral – 1, 3.75m

Julia Amaral – 4, 3.40m

Discus

Madison Davis – 23, 32.02m

Javelin

Natalie Wagler – 16, 26.12m