The men’s and women’s track and field teams finished middle of the row in the GLVC Indoor Track and Field Championship.
The event, which covered two days, was held in Indianapolis at the University of Indianapolis. Leaving Saturday, both the men’s and women’s teams were sitting in sixth place. The women’s team then finished Sunday with 40 points and the men with 47, helping them to hold on to their sixth place finish out of 11 teams.
Truman State University also brought home two champions — Elijah Farrales in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.82 and Brandon Hackamack in the triple jump with a distance of 46-11.75.
Farrales was also a member of the 4×400 relay team alongside Eddie Barrett, Mitch Henderson and Kyle Kubernat, a team that received a silver medal.
Farrales said while he obviously worked hard to dominate in the 400-meter dash and there’s excitement surrounding that, there was a lot of celebration the 4×400.
“Nothing quite compares to the hype of the 4×400 relay,” Farrales said. “The 4×4 is the last event of the meet, and everyone is always cheering on their teams. Being a part of a relay carry means that everyone has to do their part, but that makes success all the more satisfying.”
Farrales said in addition to having a successful meet individually, it was great having so many teammates qualify and perform well.
“The conference championship is always an exciting event,” Farrales said. “This is the meet that we’ve been building up to all indoor season long. The men’s team did better than any indoor conference meet that I’ve been to, and the women also had a great showing.”
The women received two bronze finishes Sunday from Gemma Saathoff and Cassidy Smestad on. Saathoff finished the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:21.24, and Smestad placed in shot put with a mark of 44-11.50.
Though this competition finished up the indoor season, the teams will now turn and focus on the impending outdoor season. The teams will travel to their first meet March 29 at the Washington University Distance Carnival in St. Louis. They will also be preparing to host the GLVC Championships come May.