Partly cloudy skies. Low 42F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..
Partly cloudy skies. Low 42F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Updated: February 20, 2022 @ 5:15 pm
Western Kentucky’s Katie Isenbarger and Demetrius Rolle placed third in their respective events to make the podium on the second and final day of the 2022 Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday in Birmingham, Ala.
Both competitors are now Third-Team All-Conference for the 2022 indoor year.
The WKU women’s squad logged its best team finish since the indoor championships in 2019, finishing 10th with 22 points, while the men scored 30 points to finish eighth.
“I think we had a good showing this weekend,” WKU director of cross country/track & field Brent Chumbley said in a news release. “Considering the small group we had, the men and women fought hard for every point we earned. We scored more than we projected, so I am proud of the team’s effort. We need more people to fill in the gaps of the events we couldn’t fill this weekend, and that falls on the staff to work harder and get more people on The Hill. Looking ahead, I think this team is better suited for outdoor and I’ll expect more out of us as the season progresses.”
Isenbarger cleared a height of 1.78 meters (5 feet, 10 inches) to finish third out of the high jump pit, scoring six points for the women’s side. Grace Turner also scored points in that event for the second straight year, finishing sixth and counting three points.
After advancing to the finals of the 60-meter, Rolle ran a 6.75 on Sunday to earn a bronze medal in the event and score six points.
“I was very proud of Demetrius competing this weekend, especially being in lane one,” WKU assistant coach Tosha Ansley said in a news release. “We wish we could’ve been in the center lane in the center of the track with everyone else, but things happen. The most important thing for him was to stay focused and run his race. I was very proud of him and how he raced to the best of his ability. Do we want gold? Always. But I’m always happy with them when they make it to the podium because we’re trying to go for school records.”
Out of the sprints group, Cedric Johnson competed in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles and finished eighth to pick up another point for the men’s side.
“As far as CJ (Johnson) is concerned, I’m very proud of him getting to the finals of the 60-meter hurdles,” Ansley said. “It’s been a long season for him in that aspect because he came in running in the 9s and now he’s doing mid-8s. He’s still learning and developing and I look forward to his continued development as we go into outdoor. I’m always super proud of the kids in how they’re doing and competing. We’ll see how they do in outdoor.”
On the distance side of things, Savannah Heckman once again put together a stellar performance, taking seventh in the women’s 3k with a time of 9:39.86, which puts her fourth-fastest in the WKU female indoor record books in that event. The time was a 10-second improvement on her previous PR.
Dedrick Troxell barely missed the podium, finishing fourth in the men’s mile by five one-hundredths of a second. He recorded a time of 4:10.48 to score five points for the Hilltoppers. Clint Sherman ran alongside Troxell in the event and finished ninth.
“The goal coming into this meet is always to put our best performances together by taking what we’ve learned about ourselves through the regular season meets and applying that knowledge here. Some were able to do that, some were not,” WKU assistant coach Brooks LeCompte said in a news release. “Nothing is given in this sport, you have to be able to go out and take it. I want to shout out Savannah Heckman, who since Day 1 has trusted me as her coach and has done everything possible to be the best athlete she could be.
“Through all the bad races, injuries and other setbacks, her determination and trust in me and herself has never wavered. She had a great meet in arguably the most competitive C-USA indoor meet in our program history. She’s now on WKU’s all-time lists in the 3k to go along with her mile and 5k ranking. She has cemented herself into WKU distance running history which is a very tough feat. The best part is, we still have the outdoor season for one more ride.”
Finishing up Sunday’s scoring for WKU were throwers Kaison Barton and John Elam. In the men’s shot put, Barton finished fourth throwing 16.71 meters while Elam threw 15.70 meters to finish eighth. They scored five points and one point, respectively.
WKU will start outdoor season with the Ole Miss Classic on March 25-26.
– Follow sports editor Jeff Nations on Twitter @Jeff_NationsBG or visit bgdailynews.com.
Bowling Green Daily News Sports Editor
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