Indiana State tabbed top of The Valley for both the men's and women's titles. The men collected a perfect 10 first-place votes from the coaches for a score of 100 points out of 100 (10 first-place votes). Followed by Illinois State and Northern Iowa tabbed 5 points apart of each other for second and third at 86 points and 81 points, respectively. For the Women Indiana State tabbed 140 points with 9 first-place votes followed by Murray State at 131 points from the coaches and the reigning 2023 MVC Outdoor Champions Illinois State in third with 125 points.
In the 2024 indoor post-season Valley Student-Athletes William Staggs of Indiana State and Isaac Basten of Drake earned Second-Team All-American honors in the Pole Vault and Mile, respectively, at the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Indoor National Championships held in Boston, Massachusetts. Staggs finished 9th with a mark of 5.40m and Basten finished 13th with a time of 4:10.87.
MVC Outdoor Championships -- Indiana State will host the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 9th -12th in Terre Haute, Ind. at the ISU Gibson Track and Field Complex.
Student-athletes hit the track and the field this season as they look to compete for a spot in the NCAA East or West Region hosted at the University of Kentucky (East) or at the University of Arkansas (West) where they will compete for a spot in the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by The University of Oregon. In addition, select student-athletes will also compete for qualifying marks for the Olympic Trials that will be held June 21st-30th in Eugene, Oregon.
Last year -- At the conclusion of the 2023 Outdoor season, The Valley saw 12 student-athletes compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships resulting in one First-Team All-American honors, Three Second-Team All-American honorees, and Eight Honorable Mention All-American honorees. In addition to the post-season recognition, Indiana State's Angela Martin earned USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Men's Outdoor Head Coach of the Year. The Valley also saw 4 institutions represented at the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships along with 5 noteable Alumni.
2024 OUTDOOR PRESEASON POLL
The 2024 MVC women's outdoor track and field preseason poll tabbed Indiana State at the top of The Valley at 140 points and 9 first-place votes. The Murray State Racers tabbed 2 first-place votes and 131 votes from the coaches for second place in the poll. The reigning 2023 MVC Outdoor Champions Illinois State earned 1 first-place vote from the coaches paired with 125 points. Belmont tabbed 104 points from the coaches for fourth place followed by Bradley in fifth with 88 points, ahead of UNI's 86 points from the coaches for sixth. Southern Illinois, Drake, and Missouri State tab places 7-9th with 77, 62, and 50 points respectively. Followed by Evansville, Valparaiso, and UIC, 33, 22, and 18 points respectively.
Indiana State collected a perfect 10 first-place votes from the coaches for a score of 100 points out of 100 (10 first-place votes). Illinois State and Northern Iowa tabbed 5 points apart of each other for second and third at 86 points and 81 points respectively. Drake and Southern Illinois also find their positionings 4 points apart of each other with Southern Illinois at 64 and Drake tabbed at 60 points. Bradley and Belmont tab 6th and 7th in the coach's vote four points apart from each other. Valparaiso, UIC, and Evansville round out the coaches poll with 30 points, 16 points, and 15 points respectively.
INDIANA STATE
WOMEN - 1st / MEN - 1st
- Indiana State returns most of its top performers from last year’s team which won the MVC Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship and placed third on the women’s side. Four individual conference champions – Kevin Krutsch (high jump, 2.12m/6-11.50), Brett Norton (shot put, 18.40m/60-04.50), Claire Pittman (long jump, 5.93m/19-05.50) and Shomari Rogers-Walton (triple jump, 15.18m/49-09.75) – are back for the Blue and White, while three-fourths of the star-studded men’s 4x100m relay team (Daunte Majors, Terrance O’Bannon, Isiah Thomas) from a year ago also return. Indiana State features a pair of pole vaulters with NCAA East First-Round experience in Will Staggs (Honorable Mention All-America, 5.30m/17-04.50) on the men’s side and Selene Weaver (3.97m/13-00.25) on the women’s side, while the Sycamores had four throwers reach the NCAA East First Round a season ago (Norton, Wyatt Puff, Noah Bolt, Elias Foor). Kamille Gaskin-Griffith and Grace Quinlan both cracked the program top-10 in the heptathlon a year ago, while a strong core of distance runners led by Erica Barker, Logan Pietrzak and Ethan Breen are all back for the Trees.
MURRAY STATE
WOMEN 2ND
- Murray State’s top outdoor returners include Kayla Bell, Jenna Pauly, Faith Bostick, Meghan Fletcher and Brooke Probst. Bell was the lone Racer to qualify for the outdoor NCAAs in 2023 after being crowned the MVC 400-meter champion. Pauly and Fletcher were the champion and runner-up in the pentathlon at last year’s outdoor conference championships, as well as Pauly finishing as the runner-up in the long jump. Fletcher was the high jump conference champion in 2023, followed up by Probst finishing as the runner-up—the same result that was seen at this year’s indoor championships. Bostick scored for her team in the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships in the 200-meter and the 100-meter dash with seventh-place and third-place finishes in the events. She looks to continue her momentum from indoor season after winning the 60-meter and earning a runner-up finish in the 200-meter.
Illinois State
MEN - 2nd / WOMEN - 3rd
- The Redbirds return four defending champions including Senior Raydoffa Braziel (400m), Hassy Fashina-Bombata (100mH), Women's 4x400m Relay, and the Men's 4x400m Relay. With 33 returning scorers from last year's MVC Championships, senior Mathis Chavand won the men's 3,000m at the indoor championships and will look to run the table at the Outdoor Championships. Senior Brandon Ratliff won the 60m hurdles at Indoors and will look to sweep at outdoors in the hurdles with Senior Jaden Johnson and Sophomore Dewyane Johnson. Senior Claire Fuhlhage took 3rd in the steeplechase, as junior Mattison Plummer took 4th in the steeplechase. Junior Madison Saunders won the long jump at the MVC Indoor Championships and will look to sweep at the MVC Outdoor Championships. Senior Bayta Butler won the women's shot put at the indoor Championships and will look to sweep at the outdoor championships.
BELMONT
WOMEN - 4TH/MEN - 7TH
Belmont returns several medal winners as it prepares for the outdoor season. Rebekah Stucker headlines the throws crew after earning a bronze medal in the weight throw and a silver medal in the shot put at the MVC Indoor Championships. After redshirting last outdoor season, Stucker will be a medal contender in shot put, discus, and the hammer throw.
Javelin thrower Maddie Quinn returns after earning a bronze medal at the MVC Outdoor Championships in 2023. Tyra Finkeldey headlines the vault crew after recently earning a bronze medal at the MVC Indoor Championships. Michella Diebenow will be a name to watch for the Bruins in the 400m hurdles.
The Bruins return Kaitlyn Vanderkolk, Katie Flaherty, and Grace Litzinger in the distance. Vanderkolk earned the gold medal in the 10,000m at the MVC Outdoor Championships a year ago and silver in the 5K. She is also a recent national qualifier in cross country. Flaherty and Litzinger reached the NCAA East Preliminary First Rounds in 2023.
The Bruins will rely on a mixture of newcomers and talented returners as they head into the outdoor season. Carter Cheeseman and Kevin Vanderkolk are two distance runners to watch. Cheeseman recently won the gold medal in the 5000m at the MVC Indoor Championships and earned a silver medal in the 3000m. Vanderkolk claimed a bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the MVC Outdoor Championships a year ago.
Sophomore Eric Toviave also returns for the Bruins after claiming a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the MVC Outdoor Championships in 2023
Talented sprinters Austin Belle and Jayce Gray are new on the scene for Belmont. After redshirting last season, Gray was a finalist in the 200m at the MVC Indoor Championships and will be a medal contender in the 100m and 200m outdoors. Freshman Austin Belle earned a silver medal in the 400m at the MVC Indoor Championships.
BRADLEY
WOMEN - 5TH/MEN - 6TH
Julia Nielsen, Max Dieterich, Trixie Wraith, Michael Rebello, Nadia Potgieter, Amiyah Davis, and Shae Fuller. Nielsen comes off of an indoor season where she placed first in the conference in the 800m and the mile. She also won Most Valuable Athlete and Most Outstanding Athlete for her previous indoor season. Wraith and Potgieter also medaled in the 3000m race, taking home first and second. Davis finished 3rd in the 400m finals at the 2023 MVC Outdoor championship with a personal best time of 55.09 leading the Braves in that event. Dieterich took third in the championships in the mile. Dieterich finished third in the 1500 in the 2023 MVC outdoor championship behind teammate Jack Crull who finished second with a time of 3:55.83. Michael Rebello also finished sixth in the 5000m at the 2023 outdoor championships with a time of 14:40.47. In the 2023 outdoor season, the Braves saw a 5th-place men's finish and a 6th-place women's finish at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championship.
DRAKE
WOMEN - 8TH / MEN - 5TH
Drake tabbed 5th and 8th in the coaches poll with notable returners in the field for the women Centaine Noom-Duckworth and Chinemerem Iwuagu. Noom-Duckworth took 3rd in the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championship with a mark of 56.27m after posting her best mark of 57.21m at the Iowa State Alumni Meet in 2023. Iwuagu returns in the hammer with a season's best mark of 48.91m last year as a freshman. well as Anthony Barmes and Adam Phillips for the men's field. The Bulldogs saw Anthony Barmes finish 12th in the Hammer at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor National Championships. Barmes finished the season with his best mark of 70.53m set at the Jim Duncan Invite last year. Phillips is also a notable returner in the shot put, discus, and hammer with his best marks of 60.45m in the hammer, 56.19m in the discus, and 16.45m his best mark in the outdoor shot put last year.
On the track, the Bulldogs return All-American runner Isaac Basten after finishing 5th in the 2023 NCAA Outdoor National Championships in the 1500. Basten set a personal best time of 3:36.99 at the 2023 Bryan Clay Invitational last April. Hayden Cross returns for the Bulldogs after finishing 4th in the 400m at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships as a freshman with a time of 48.38. The Bulldogs also return Brooke Mullins who set a personal best at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships in the 3000 Steeplechase with a time of 10:08.10 advancing her to the West regional preliminaries where she finished 18th overall. The Bulldogs also return Emilie Meyer in the 800 after finishing 4th in the 2023 MVC Outdoor championships with a time of 2:08.93.
EVANSVILLE
WOMEN - 10TH / MEN - 10TH
- At the end of the 2023 outdoor track and field season, Evansville broke almost all of its program field records. The Purple Aces saw records fall in the discus, shot put, and hammer throw events at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships, including two records broken by returners Zach Dove (Princeton, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) and Jaden Hayes (Huntingburg, Ind./Southridge). Dove and Hayes also had a successful 2024 indoor season as graduate throwers, setting program records in the weight throw and shot put. Hayes broke the men’s indoor weight throw record at the MVC Indoor Championships in Chicago in February with a throw of 18.02 meters. Dove broke the men’s shot put record earlier in the indoor season at the Indiana Invitational with a throw of 15.53 meters. For the women’s side in the field, returning sophomore thrower Gwen Darrah (Cleveland, Ohio / Orange HS) broke the program weight throw record at the Blue-White Classic in Terre Haute with a throw of 14.45 meters. On the track, UE saw several freshmen runners break out during the 2024 indoor season. Freshman Nicole Prauchner (Neuhofen an der Ybbs, Austria) broke the program record for the 800-meter race in the qualifying heats with a time of 2:12.93 to qualify fourth. On the men’s side of the track, Evansville had a standout newcomer in all three distances. In the sprints, freshman Raymond Felton III (Houston / Clear Brook HS) set records in the 200- and 300-meter races early in the indoor season. At the mid-distance level, freshman Rafael Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain) had program records in the 1,000-meter and mile races, including resetting the mile record at MVC Indoors with a time of 4:13.89. While in the distance races, Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) was the program record setter with new records in the 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter races.
UIC
WOMEN 12TH / MEN - 9TH
The Flames return a core men's group in Max Rivera, Dathan Maton, Will Stout, and Georgios Siomos. Rivera led the Flames in the sprints with a top 200 time set last year at 21.76 and a top 100m time with a 10.64 set at the Fighting Illini Challenge in 2023. Maton finished 11th in the 5000 at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships after setting a personal best in the event at the Fighting Illini Challenge with a time of 14:20.21 where he finished 2nd. Siomos leads the Flames in the field coming off of an 8th-place triple jump finish at the 2024 Indoor Championships in his sophomore season, and 7th in the 2023 Outdoor Championships as a freshman.
For the women, the Flames return Cailyn Persinger and Daniel Martinez off of a competitive indoor season where they finished 16th and 17th respectively in the mile at the 2024 Indoor Championships. The Flames also return a strong 4x400 team of Haley Dahl, Sariyah Watson, Chinenye Ifeajekwu, and Praise Oyebanji who finished 10th in th 2024 Indoor Championships with a time of 4:00.00. Ava Maglaya finished 12th for the Flames in the Triple Jump as a freshman with a mark of 10.65m at the 2024 Indoor Championships.
MISSOURI STATE
Women - 9TH
- Missouri State track and field returns a group of scorers from past indoor and outdoor championship meets. At the indoor championship, the Bears saw four scorers. In her freshman year, Olivia Rogers made her name known with a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter dash as the only freshman to compete in the finals. Whitney Farrington also made a trip to the finals in the 200-meter dash with a sixth-place finish. Brooke Jenkins placed fifth in the triple jump. At last season's outdoor championship, Jenkins made a trip to the podium for the first time in her career with a third-place finish. Jaide Rose and Cheyenne White also return to the team with the beginning of the outdoor season. Last year, White set a facility record in javelin at Missouri State with an attempt of 39.40m.
nORTHERN IOWA
WOMEN - 6TH / MEN - 3RD
- UNI Track and Field returns strongly to the 2024 outdoor season. On the men’s side, Brendan Safley won his first-ever conference title with a career-best vault of 5.15 meters at last year's 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships. Safely now vaults 5.35 meters as he recorded in the indoor season. Returning Panther, Jack Sumners clenched the men’s 110-meter hurdles in a time of 13.98 seconds, the first Panther to win the event since 2019 at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships. Another strong returner for UNI is senior Zach Butcher. Butcher won the men's decathlon with 6,688 points and placed fifth in the javelin throw with a career-best throw of 52.21 meters at the MVC Outdoor Championships. On the women’s side, junior Emma Hoins recorded fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a career-best time of 10:26.91 and seventh in the 5000-meter in a career-best time of 17:11.03 at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championships. UNI multi-athlete Katy Stephens returns to the outdoor season after finishing fourth in the women’s heptathlon with a career-best score of 4,812 points last outdoor MVC Championship. In the field, thrower Katie Fare took second in the women’s shot put (17.06m) and high jumper Rylie Todd finished in a second place tie in the high jump clearing 1.69 meters, as they will both return for the Panthers this 2024 outdoor season.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
WOMEN - 7TH / MEN - 4TH
- Southern Illinois track and field comes into the outdoor season with some positive momentum after 10 different athletes medaled at the indoor Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
- On the women's side, the Salukis return Iaunia Pointer, who has already achieved all-time great levels in school history. She won the 100 and 200-meter dashes at last year's outdoor championships. Pointer returns with fellow sprinters Shavell Riley, Vashti Grey and Miracle Berry, who combined to finish third in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The distance team returns Rachel Anderson and Claire Ayers. Anderson finished second in last year's 3000-meter steeplechase, and Ayers finished third in the women's 1500-meter run.
- The men bring back a set of young, accomplished athletes in their own right. MVC Freshman of the Meet Jadon Robertson returns after winning the award at last year's outdoor championships. Distance runner Dawson Smith took home second in the 3000-meter steeplechase and the 5000-meter run and will look to capture golds in his senior season. Sprinters Xavier Preston, Christian Donatelli and Jeremiah Hamilton are back from last year's 4x100 relay squad that finished third.
VALPARAISO
WOMEN - 11TH/ MEN- 8TH
Moving to the Outdoor season the Beacons return the field of Micah Mullings in the triple jump and long jump, Nate Smith and Will Rinker in the throws, and Simeon Ehm and Evan Walda on the track. The Beacons saw 21 points earned in the 2024 MVC Indoor Championships where Mullings earned 14 points in the triple and long jump finishing third and second, respectively to lead the Beacons in the field. Smith and Rinker led the throws finishing in the top 25 in both the weight throw and the shot put alongside Reid Davis and Josh Leathers. Simeon Ehm finished 8th in the 3000m at the Indoor Championship followed by Walda. Ehm set his personal best in the 1500m last April with a time of 5:56.54, where he finished 18th in the 2023 MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and 12th in the 5000m. Walda finished 6th in the 10,000m at the 2023 MVC Outdoor Championship after setting his personal best earlier that season at the Raliegh Relays with a time of 30:48.08. Walda also finished in the top 25 in the 2024 Indoor Championships in the 3000m where he finished 13th and 5000m where he finished 25th.
For the women, the throws return their shotput squad of Tori Gerhardt, Amelia Tandy, and Lena Luebbering who finished in the top 15 in the women's weight throw alongside Gerhardt and Tandy who finished in the top 20 in the 2024 MVC Indoor Championships. The Beacons also saw sprinter freshman Juliana Ferrara in the 60m, 200m, and 400m at the 2024 Indoor Championships where she finished in the top 25 in all three events. Junior Grace Aurand returns for the Beacons in the 1500 and 5000 after finishing 21st in the 2023 Outdoor championships and 17th in the 5000m.