Track teams take first at indoor championship; Rainbolt named Coach of the Year

The Shockers ended alone at the top of the scoreboard; the women with 181 points and the men with 146 points.

Sam Belsan, Reporter|February 27, 2017

Cody Scheck runs the 4 by 400 meter relay at the Herm Wilson Invitational in the Heskett Center.

At the end of the first day of competition in the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship, the Shockers men’s and women’s track teams were sitting in a good position.

The women’s team was atop the scoreboard with 60 points; Northern Iowa held the second place spot with 29 points. The men’s team sat in second place, three points behind Southern Illinois.

Day two brought about utter domination in the team categories where the Shockers ended alone at the top of the list; the women ended with 181 points and the men ended with 146 points.

Specialty awards were given out after the meet.

Nikki Larch-Miller claimed the titles of Most Valuable Athlete and Most Outstanding Track Athlete as a result of her performance during the championship. Larch-Miller, a senior, took first in the 60 meter dash and earned a school record (7.38). She also won the 60 meter hurdles (8.22) and took second in long jump (6.11m).

Breanne Borman earned the Most Outstanding Field Athlete award through her performance in the indoor pentathlon where she took first place (4054 points).

Winning the Elite 18 award was Claudia Rojo, a sophomore, who was honored for her hard work as a student-athlete.

On the men’s side, junior Hunter Veith shared the title of Most Valuable Athlete with Kyle Landon of Southern Illinois. Veith placed first in the heptathlon (5813 points), first in long jump (7.78m) and third in pole vault (4.97m).

Steve Rainbolt, head coach of Shocker track and field, was recognized as the Coach of the Year for both the men’s and women’s teams.

The women’s team swept the podium in the indoor pentathlon with Borman taking first place, Marteisha Caines taking second (3962 points) and Gavyn Yetter taking third (3742 points).

Caines and Sydney Wilson took first and second in high jump; Caines with a height of 1.67m and Wilson with 1.64m.

In the distance category, Sidney Hirsch won the 5000 meter run in 16:56.01 and Rebekah Topham took first in the 1 mile run with a time of 4:49.71. Topham also took first in the 3000 meter run (9:50.64).

For the men’s side, Ben Johnson joined Veith on the podium for the heptathlon. Johnson came in second with a score of 5304 points. Jared Belardo won men’s triple jump with a distance of 15.59m.

Notable distance-runner, Ugis Jocis, took second in the 1 mile run (4:12.97).

Both Shockers 4×400 meter relay teams took third; the women with a time of 3:47.83 and the men with a time of 3:17.72.