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Indiana State Men, Illinois State Women Win Missouri Valley Conference Titles

Published by
DyeStat.com   Feb 28th 2023, 2:49am
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Sycamores Overcome Adversity, Use 1-2-3 Finish In 60 Dash To Help Secure Men's Team Title

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photo by Steve Woltmann/MVC

Indiana State came into the Missouri Valley Conference indoor meet without the MVC leader in long and triple jumps, lost the league’s top sprinter during the 200 meters and used a patchwork 4x400 relay.

“We were kind of falling apart,” Sycamores coach Angela Martin acknowledged.

Falling apart . . . and coming together.

JaVaughn Moore set an MVC record of 6.56 in leading a 1-2-3 sweep of the 60 meters, and Indiana State went on to repeat as men’s team champion at Chicago’s Gateley Park. The MVC’s Sunday/Monday meet followed the Big East’s Friday/Saturday championship there.

Indiana State, ahead by five points before the 4x400, finished fourth in that relay to Illinois State’s third.

So the Sycamores finished with 153 points to Illinois State’s 149. Northern Iowa was third with 123 and Southern Illinois fourth with 82.

“I think our team is very resilient because we had a lot of things not go right today,” Martin said. “We had other men pick up the slack and find a way to get the job done.”

The Sycamores were without injured Shomari Rogers-Walton, the top seed in both horizontal jumps. Tahj Johnson, seeded third in the 400, fell in the final and was disqualified.

Moore, a former state 100-meter champion (10.40) from Marietta, Ga., has been chipping away at Indiana State’s school record all month: 6.64, 6.64 again, 6.62, 6.61 in Sunday’s heats.

“Today he just kind of blasted it wide open,” Martin said.

Terrance O’Bannon (6.65) and Paralympics medalist Noah Malone (6.76) completed the 1-2-3.

Moore felt leg tightness around the bank during the 200, and he eased to the finish so Indiana State could score three sixth-place points (after two DQs). Martin said Moore was being cautious and would be OK for the upcoming NCAA Championships, in which he is ranked No. 7 at 60 meters.

Malone, who is visually impaired, doesn’t usually run the indoor 200 but came through with another third. He was in lane 6 by a rail, and Martin said that allowed him to see enough to remain in the lane.

Indiana State scored in 14 of 17 events – all but the 3,000, 5,000 and heptathlon. Besides 25 points in the 60, they scored 18 in the weight, 17 in the shot put, and 14 each in pole vault and high jump.

Sophomore Will Staggs broke a 27-year-old school record for a repeat vault victory at 17-9/5.41m – 18 inches higher than his prep best less than two years ago. (Coincidentally, Staggs’ high school coach was Travis Herb, who also coached Indiana State vaulter Kylie Hutson, a four-time NCAA champion and two-time World Championships qualifier.)

Elsewhere, Northern Iowa’s Parker Kiewiet set a meet record of 46.13 in the 400, and Bradley’s George Watson won a 3k/5K double in 8:11.81/14:11.63.

SIU’s Dawson Plab won the high jump at 7-0.5/2.15m. He is the son of Darrin Plab, a former NCAA champion and 1992 Olympian who jumped 7-8.5/2.35m.

In the women’s meet, Illinois State scored in all 17 events and beat Murray State 130-108. Indiana State was third with 99 and Bradley fourth with 84.

SIU’s Shauneice O’Neal threw the weight 73-4/22.35m for her third MVC title. Bradley’s Nicola Jansen repeated in the 3,000 and 5,000 with meet records of 9:22.20 and 16:06.89.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.



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