FREELAND, MICH. -- Several members of the Trine University women's and men's indoor track & field teams have been named All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association for their efforts this past weekend (Mar. 6) at the conference championships. Additionally, freshman Haley Livingston (Fort Worth, Texas/Everman) has been selected as the women's "Most Valuable Field Athlete."
On the women's side, four individuals (including Livingston) earned All-Conference honors after winning individual events. Livingston captured individual titles in two events that included the 60-meter hurdles and the triple jump. In the 60m hurdles Livingston posted a time of 9.48 seconds in the preliminaries, momentarily breaking the Trine indoor record in the event that was previously held by Lydia Walterhouse (9.58 seconds). Later in the day, in the finals, Livingston improved upon her prelim time with a mark of 9.35 seconds to re-break her previous all-time mark. Off the track, Livingston posted the best overall distance in the triple jump of 34' 8.25". Her mark also broke the school indoor record in the triple jump that was held by Abigail Kuhlman (34' 5.00"). Additionally, Livingston finished in second place in the long jump with a distance of 16' 11.25" and was third in the 60-meter dash in a time of 8.12 seconds.
Joining Livingston at All-MIAA honorees are senior Megan Theismann (Ossian, Ind./Norwell), sophomore Autumn Presley (Pleasant Lake, Ind./Angola) and junior Valerie Obear (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern). Theissman was the MIAA champion in the 5000-meter run in a time of 17:42.93 and then recorded the second fastest overall time in the 3000m of 10:26.23. Presley took top honors in the pole vault at a clearance of 10' 0.00" which was about a foot-and-a-half higher than her nearest opponent. Obear recorded an impressive victory in the weight throw with a distance of 57' 3.50" about five-and-a-half feet farther than second place.
For the men, two individuals and one relay team claimed event titles at the conference championships. Freshman Danny Vinson (Berrien Springs, Mich./Berrien Springs) was one of three Trine runners to qualify for the finals in the 60-meter dash and posted a winning time of 6.99 seconds. Sophomore Jake Gladieux (Oregon, Ohio/Whitmer) posted the top overall time of 8.30 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, improving upon his preliminary time by eight one-hundreths of a second.
The Thunder men also captured the distance medley relay with the team of senior Noah Acker (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble), freshman Ryan Smith (Peru, Ind./Peru), junior Holden Martin (Indianapolis, Ind./Scecina Memorial) and senior Jack Beakas (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) recorded a combined time of 10:40.69 to win the event.
